What Doesn't Kill You Will Inevitably Try Again
by chariots99
Summary: Alex Rider has returned from the AIS to face the threat Scorpia has placed against his friends. But what happens when MI6 assigns a guard to Alex's friend whom is already high up on Scorpia's hit list? Sequel to NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED.
1. Scorpia are Back

_Hey all and welcome back to my AR Fanfic. _

_I'm going by the assumption here that Alex's birthday is on January the 17__th__, since I actually have no idea when it is. If you know when his birthday is, don't tell me 'coz I've already planned everything around the 17__th__…_

_I'm also going by the assumption that there is no school uniform…I don't care if there is._

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

**Chapter 1**

It had been about three weeks since he'd gotten back from Australia. In that time, he celebrated Christmas with Tom and Jack, turned their living room into an explosion of tinsel, decorative wrappings, statues of all sizes and Christmas lights. Tom also came around for the New Year, and the two boys had a competition to see who could keep awake the longest. Tom won by ten minutes, which he celebrated by running outside, gathering up a snowball, and ditching it at Alex's sleeping head. He'd then been chased around the house for the next hour by a _very _annoyed Alex.

Currently, Alex was fast asleep, oblivious to the world. He lay under two extremely thick doonas to keep out the cold. While in Australia, he didn't so much need a blanket. Weird country it was, having summer during Christmas.

"Alex!"

Startled, Alex sat bolt upright, a hard feat with the heavy doonas pressing down on him. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced at the new clock he'd gotten for Christmas.

"Alex, hurry up!" Jack yelled again.

Alex groaned. "I'm up!"

"Good!"

For a while since he'd come back from training with the AIS, Alex had kept waking up at five thirty-five every morning. Now it seemed that his body was starting to break the habit. Finally.

Stumbling out of bed, he opened his curtains to the familiar sight of the snow-filled backyard. Then he got dressed, glancing at the heavy school bag he'd packed last night.

The spring term had started almost a week ago. Luckily for him, AIS had called during his Christmas holidays, so he hadn't missed any more school. He'd already caught up to his previous standard earlier in the school year. Plus, there was only four days left before his sixteenth birthday! Life was good. Life was great. Life would be brilliant…

If not for the ruthless criminal organization determined to kill him and his friends for revenge. Again.

Alex sighed, opening the door to his room and picking up his school shoes. He started to slip on his shoes while hopping down the stairs, nearly killing himself when he misjudged and slipped. Someone sniggered at the end of the stairs.

"Good going, super spy," a small boy with spiky black hair and sky blue eyes stood waiting for him, his jacket still littered with snow.

"Tom!" Alex exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

Tom put a hand to his heart and pretended to sob in despair. "Fine, I get it. It's over Alex."

"Oh, stop with the dramatics," Alex said, hitting the boy in the arm.

Tom winced. "Seriously, Alex, you've got to stop hitting me! You've gotten stronger, and my arm has enough bruises as it is."

Alex sighed. "Sorry. So, what _are_ you doing here?"

"Ben offered me a lift…how could I refuse?"

"Oh, you are finally up. What good is getting an alarm clock if I still have to wake you up every morning?" Jack bustled in, grabbing Alex by the shoulder and dragging him into the kitchen for breakfast. Tom trailed along after him.

"Um…I'm trying to save on electricity?"

There was already someone in the kitchen. Someone with dark even eyes and short black hair. Agent Ben Daniels.

"Hey Ben," Alex said, dropping into the seat at the table while Jack went to get his breakfast.

"Hey Alex. Tom," Fox said, nodding to both boys.

Ever since they'd arrived back in England, Ben had been living with Alex and Jack under orders from the MI6. It was for their "protection against Scorpia", though Alex was pretty sure that if a Scorpia assassin really wanted him dead, Ben wouldn't be of much help. Still, he did appreciate the gesture.

"Alex, eat quickly or you'll be late," Jack ordered setting the plate of scrambled eggs, her specialty, in front of the boy then turning to make him some hot chocolate.

Seeing Tom eyeing his food, and knowing that his friend had an endless stomach, Alex gestured towards the cutlery and said, "Help yourself."

"Thanks."

The two boys ate in silence. After that, another MI6 agent, Agent Banks, walked through the front doors while Ben escorted Alex and Tom to school. It seemed that MI6 were taking no chances with Alex, Tom or Jack. They'd arranged round the clock guards, as well as assigning agents to their protection. Tom had refused his outright, telling Alex to tell MI6 to stuff it. He had enough troubles at home with his parents, and didn't really want the argument that would no doubt occur if he tried to bring in an MI6 agent into the house. Still, MI6 had rented out the house next door, and had put agents in there for his security.

"So Alex," Tom said as they climbed into Ben's government issued car, "Have you heard from your cousins down south yet?"

In light of their current situation, and given a heads up that Scorpia may try to plant bugs in and around the house, Tom and Alex had reverted speaking in their code full time. It was rather entertaining when they talked and understood each other, while around them highly trained intelligence agents glared at the two, trying to figure out what they were talking about.

"Nope. And I highly doubt they would talk to me after I egged their house."

"Right. Got it."

Ben sighed in frustration. He'd long figured that "cousins down south" were the AIS, but had yet to understand what "egged their house" meant. Unless the two were just fooling around with his mind, making him think that something they said was code when it wasn't. That was the trouble with codes. You had no idea what it really meant.

There was a dramatic change at the school since last term. Now, armed SAS soldiers, including K-unit, as well as several agents from MI6, guarded the school perimeters. Their numbers had recently been doubled since the attempt last week.

Apparently, Scorpia was now aiming for Alex's friends, not that he had many. They'd attempted to either kidnap or kill Tom, and their agents had taken out almost half of the SAS soldiers. Alex had had to step in; up until that point, he was being forcibly restrained by Eagle and Snake. Flanked by both K-unit and M-unit, they managed to subdue-ie kill-the Scorpia agents, leaving a slightly ruffled Tom in the centre.

"So," Tom said as they were dropped off, "How long do you reckon it'll be before the next attempt on my life?"

Alex forced a laugh. To Tom's credit, he'd remained his usual cheery self, his antics not dampened by the attempt. Alex couldn't help but blame himself for it, though Tom had told him over and over that if the teenage spy wanted to assign blame, then assign it to MI6.

The two friends entered the main building. Teenagers walking past smiled in greeting, or waved their hands. Things had changed at Brooklands after Mrs Jones came over to the school to address them in an assembly. She told the school about how Alex had been absent due to the fact that his uncle used to work for MI6 prior to his death, and how some of his uncle's enemies had been after Alex for a while, so he was being constantly pulled out of school to be kept safe.

It was Alex who had come up with the white lie. In Mr Blunt's office, they'd agreed not to tell the school that Alex was a spy, since then they'd have to "make all those kids sign the Confidentiality Agreement Form, which would just be a waste of paper and time, and won't shut them up anyway", according to Mr Blunt. So, they'd decided to put around that Alex's life was in constant danger, which was why he'd been absent so long.

The armed guards patrolling the school was explained through the real threat that those enemies had sent, saying that they would target Alex's friends and classmates. Surprisingly, or at least to Alex, his classmates had taken the news rather well. In fact, many of them seemed downright happy that they were being targeted. When Alex asked Tom for an explanation, the boy had told him that his fellow students watched way too much TV and movies than was healthy. Alex suspected that there was more to it, but his friend wisely told him to drop it.

Ever since the "truth" had been out, Alex found himself at the centre of constant attention. He became the school's resident "James Bond". Boys swaggered up to him, asking him loudly about the missions his uncle had been on, and whether he had ever seen any gadgets. Girls swooned after him, and when Alex sought out Tom for another explanation, he was informed that the danger-type group he was now classified under boosted his eligibility even more, especially since his facial features had enhanced during puberty, and he now was an "extremely handsome boy with looks to rival just about anyone".

Tom also added that the way Alex's hair flopped over his eyes was extremely appealing to girls. When Alex asked how he knew all that stuff, Tom had put a finger over his lips and jerked his head in the direction of a group of girls. Apparently, the boy had been eavesdropping. Alex found that he wasn't surprised at all.

"Hey, Alex!" A girl shrieked, running up to the two boys.

"Hey Cindy," Alex sighed. Cindy Rills was one of his more persistent female followers, along with Amanda Kerr and some girl named Bethany Dylan. Dazzling green eyes, waist length blonde hair, and captain of the cheerleading squad to boot, Cindy was sought after by many of the boys in the school. Unfortunately for her, Alex wanted nothing to do with the girl.

"How're you going?" She had a high voice, cultured so that it was as appealing as she could make it. She'd also managed to perfect the eyelash batting move, which the teenage spy just found plain annoying.

"Fine." Alex threw Tom a look that clearly screamed _HELP ME!!!_

Tom smirked. "So, Cindy, how's your cheerleading routine? Is it going to be ready by the match?" Tom had retained captaincy of the school's football team. As such, he'd had more practice talking to cheerleaders than Alex ever would.

"Oh, we're going strong!" Cindy's attention on Alex broke. The boy heaved a sigh as she began to rattle on about some flip or other.

"Well, here's my homeroom. See you later, Alex!" Cindy waved and disappeared through the door.

"Why won't she leave me alone?" Alex asked, for the fifty millionth time.

"Because," Tom explained patiently, yet again, "She wants you to like her."

"But why?"

"So you'll boost her status?" Tom guessed.

"Boost her…? Tom, I don't think that girl knows a _thing_ about politics and besides, she's head of the cheerleading squad. How much more of a status does she need?"

Tom's answer was cut off by another girl's screech of "Hey Alex!"

Alex groaned. When was the line-up of girls going to end?

* * *

It was with some relief when the siren went to signal the start of lunch. The term was only a week and half old, and already they'd had tests sprung on them. Alex glared at the food set out for Wednesday's lunch and grudgingly accepted it. He'd gotten too used to the food that Anna had served back in Australia. Though it was the same, if not slightly worse, than the fare he'd been given at Breacon Beacons, it had been "made with love". Whatever that ingredient was, it sure made the food a whole lot tastier.

Tom chose to sit at the table closest to the window at the back of the cafeteria. Alex dropped into the seat next to Tom, resting his head in his hands. _Why_ had tests ever been invented? What was the bloody point?

"Well, I think I went quite well in that maths test," Tom said through a mouthful of something that could only vaguely be classified as food.

Alex snorted. "And what's well for you? Above twenty percent?" It was common knowledge that Tom hated school. He didn't see the point of education, after the way it screwed up his parents' marriage.

"No. It's above thirty. God, Alex, get it right."

They lapsed into silence again, though the students around were anything but. There were girls screeching, boys bragging, and extremely rude insults being hurled back and forth across the cafeteria. The teachers had long since given up trying to get order. It had taken the SAS soldiers _three days_ to give up though.

"Hi Alex!"

Alex almost groaned. Sometimes, Cindy's voice came to haunt him in his nightmares.

"Cindy."

The blonde girl slid into the empty space beside Alex and turned to him with a radiant smile.

"How do you reckon you did in that maths test? I found it pretty hard, but then again, you are like a total genius!" The girl ate a mouthful of the food, then pushed the rest of it away from her with a disgusted look on her face.

"Er, thanks." Alex shot Tom a distressed look only to find the boy red in the face from suppressed laughter. _Not helping, Tom_, Alex thought.

"So…I was wondering if you were doing anything Saturday night?" She asked, sending him another one of her mirror perfected smiles, "My friends and I were going to go catch a movie, and I'd like it if you could come! Of course, you're welcome to bring anyone you like. So what do you say?"

"Erm…"

Shouts outside the cafeteria saved Alex from having to answer. The teenage spy jerked his head up as the student body went eerily silent. The shouts got louder, and they heard several guns go off. Alex's instincts took over.

"EVERYBODY! GET UNDER A TABLE AND STAY DOWN!" He shouted, using a technique Wolf taught him to make his voice travel. There was mass movement as every kid present dove under the nearest table. Alex himself pushed Cindy down; the girl looked like she was frozen on the spot.

The glass doors suddenly shattered and several bullets flew in to embed themselves into the opposite wall.

"Tom, stay down," Alex hissed, then ran towards the commotion.

He got out to see the flourishing fight between the SAS soldiers and several men dressed in black with a small silver crest embedded into each. Alex mentally bet everything he owned that those crests were in the shape of scorpions.

"ALEX! GET BACK INSIDE!" Ben shouted, diving for the boy just as more bullets were fired in their direction. A couple of Scorpia agents broke free, only to be shot down by more SAS soldiers arriving at the fight. "GO!" Ben pushed Alex back.

The boy almost tripped over the glass that now littered the entrance. Screams alerted him instantly, and he snapped around to see another Scorpia agent leaning over to grab Tom. He'd apparently come in through the now shattered window at the back of the cafeteria, while the other agents in the front caused a massive diversion.

Alex dived for the agent, pulling him away from his friend, his momentum carrying them both towards the broken window. They both landed heavily on the glass, and Alex winced as a few shards cut across his cheek. Scrambling to his feet, he found himself face to face with a fully trained Scorpia assassin.

Only weeks ago he had faced another of their assassins, down under in Australia. The man had been a rookie, having been at the bottom of the class while Alex had been on Malagosto. He'd been easy to deal with. Now though, Alex was facing a total stranger, and no doubt one who was extremely competent too. The day just kept getting better and better.

The assassin moved first, with lightning speed. Alex only just managed to deflect the blow that came directly for his face. The assassin swung around again, and Alex ducked, ramming himself up into the man's chest. They sprang apart.

Then Alex darted in again. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Tom drag Cindy out from under the table and under one that was further away from the fight.

The assassin moved with Alex, blocking his punch and grabbing the teenage spy by the collar of his uniform. He swung the boy around and slammed him into the table. The breath was knocked out of him. Dimly he heard someone screaming for help.

The assassin landed a punch on the boy, slamming his head back into the table. Pain flared across the left side of his face; the punch had landed squarely on his jaw. Feebly he tried to block the next punch, but it hit him anyway, and suddenly his cheek felt like it was on fire.

Bringing his legs as far as it could go, Alex kicked out, catching the agent in the stomach and pushing the man away from him. That gave the boy a chance to roll away and regain his footing.

His breathing was rapid and erratic; his pulse was racing way too fast. Adrenaline ran through him, masking most of the pain. Suddenly he felt extremely thankful for the training he had a few weeks ago in Australia; it had gotten him back into proper fighting shape.

Alex darted in towards the agent. He'd learnt a trick or two from the girl he'd met at the AIS; she'd used her speed more than anything when the two sparred, and it had kept her out of his reach. Since his return to England, Alex practiced the drills they'd done to help his speed.

Unfortunately, the Scorpia agent was too fast for the teenage boy. He caught Alex again and threw him with a grunt. Alex felt himself clear the table he'd been pinned to just a moment ago. He hit the wall, directly next to the jagged window frame that had once held glass. Glancing at it, he saw that a piece of the metal frame had come loose with the force of impact when the glass had been broken. Quickly reaching across, he grabbed the piece of metal and pulled it free. It was approximately thirty centimetres long, about the size of a crowbar.

The Scorpia agent had advanced towards Tom again. The boy cowered slightly under the overcrowded table. From his position, he could see Alex creep slowly towards the agent. The man, unfortunately, never saw Alex until it was too late.

Alex raised the crowbar sized metal over his head, and brought it down as hard as he could. The agent collapsed, unconscious.

For a moment, Alex stood still, breathing heavily. Then Ben and a couple of other SAS soldiers burst through what had once been a door. They froze, taking in the unconscious Scorpia agent on the ground, the long metal strip in Alex's hand, and all the students cowering beneath the cafeteria tables.

Alex glanced quizzically at Ben; the MI6 agent signalled that the threat had been nullified.

The teenage spy let out a sigh, and bent down to help his friend out from under the table. All around, students were slowly emerging from beneath the tables. Then Cindy darted out from beneath the table, straightened out her clothes, ran a couple of her fingers through her hair, and turned to Alex with an out-of-place bright smile on her face.

"So Alex, I'll see you at six outside the movies?"

* * *

_And I'm back!!! Thanks to all my reviewers from "Not for the Faint Hearted", as well as all my loyal readers and fans (if I have any)._

_Hope this story will live up to my last!_

_Please review! I started off with a bang for a reason!!!_

_Love Chariots99_


	2. Added Protection

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_Also, to my anonymous reviewer __**AR-bookworm**__, I'd just like to say thank you for your extremely long review! You are supposed to hate Cindy, and don't worry, Alex isn't going to go out with her._

_To all my lovely reviewers, THANKYOU!!!_

**Chapter 2**

"I do not believe this!" Alan Blunt exclaimed. He'd just been informed of the recent break-in at Brookland, and about how his best, and youngest, field agent had had to fend off a fully trained Scorpia agent all by himself.

"Please, someone tell me that this is not true!"

Mrs Jones stared at her boss. This was the first time she'd seen him lose his temper in a while. In front of the two of them, the agent who had made the report was standing rather uncomfortably, gazing everywhere but at the two heads of the SO.

Mr Blunt sighed, then waved at the man. "Dismissed."

The agent all but bolted out of the room, determined to put as much space between them as was humanely possible.

"_Eight_ SAS units. _Twelve_ of my _best_ field agents. That's _forty-four_ men altogether! And yet Alex _still_ was forced into the fight!" Blunt didn't like to admit it, but the boy had grown slightly on him. And he was one of MI6's best agents. He didn't really want to lose the boy.

"I think we should make arrangements for Tom Harris," Mrs Jones said.

"Yes. That boy has been targeted _twice_ now." Blunt frowned, thinking it over. The boy had point blank refused guards inside his house. If Scorpia came calling, Blunt highly doubted that the agents they'd placed next door would be able to help. The problem, according to Rider anyway, was the boy's parents. If they could be out of the way…

"Give orders for Agent Daniels to bring Harris back home with Rider. He is to stay there until the threat is over. Tell Agents Crawley, Ibsen and Allende to move out, pack everything that's in Harris's room and deliver it to Rider's house. Then reassign them to guard the school. We're going to need another unit as well. Get Harris's parents out of the country. Split them up if possible, since they appear to have problems together. Now," Blunt ordered, and Mrs Jones left.

Alone, Mr Blunt frowned. The problem wasn't how many agents and soldiers they had to guard the school. The problem was where Harris was when Scorpia came calling. The incident at the school proved that he needed to be guarded by more than just Rider, or Blunt ran the risk of losing one of his best agents. He obviously couldn't be followed around by an agent. Both he and Rider would protest about that, and Blunt had enough headaches as it was without those two complaining.

No, what he needed was someone who would be able to keep up with those two boys. Someone who would fit in better than an MI6 agent. Someone they were familiar with. Someone whom he knew would be able to protect them, and he knew that they would both trust…

But who?

An idea slowly formed in his mind. Would they let the agent go though?

Mr Blunt let out a frustrated groan, and covered his face with his hands. He decided that he'll contact them if Scorpia tried to kidnap Harris again, though they may have given up after their last two failed attempts.

That decided, he reached for the phone and ordered for his lunch to be brought up.

* * *

"For the millionth time, Cindy, I am fine!" Alex finally exploded. The final bell of the day had just sounded, and the rest of his English class rushed out the door, eager to be anywhere but in school. All, except for Tom and Cindy. The girl was really getting on Alex's nerves. She hadn't left him alone since after Snake cleaned up Alex's cuts.

"Okay, I was just asking," she pouted, before returning to her perfect smile, "Catch you later Alex!" With that she turned and pranced out the room, leaving a faint trace of her perfume behind.

"Ready to go?" Tom asked, hoisting his bag onto his shoulders.

"Yea," Alex replied, copying his friend's actions. Together they walked out the door, to find Ben already waiting for them.

"Hey boys," he greeted, "Tom, I'm afraid you're going to have to come home with us. Your stuff's already at Alex's house."

"Why?" Tom asked.

Ben glanced around before lowering his voice and replying, "We'll discuss it when we get back, okay?"

Tom nodded, shooting a questioning glance at Alex. The teenage spy just shrugged in reply. He had a vague idea, but he could be wrong.

They arrived at Alex's house in silence. Tom was throwing ideas around his head, each wilder than the last. Alex was just tired and sore from the unexpected fight, and was quite happy to just sit and not talk. Ben kept shooting glances at the two boys.

"ALEX! Oh, Alex!" Jack cried the moment he walked through the door. Suddenly Alex found himself on the receiving end of one of Jack's excruciatingly tight hugs.

"Ow, Jack! I'm alright, really," Alex mumbled, failing to pull himself out of her grip.

Agent Banks came out from behind Jack to observe the commotion, but seeing what they were currently doing, he decided to give them some privacy and beat a fast retreat.

Jack saw Tom standing awkwardly behind his friend and immediately let Alex go. She'd already been briefed as to the arrangements for Tom, and was perfectly happy if it meant that Alex's best friend wouldn't be killed.

"Oh, Tom, I'm so sorry! I've already prepared the guest room; it's just down the hall from Alex's. All your stuff is already in there. Don't worry, it's going to turn out alright." Jack proceeded to give Tom a bone crushing hug. In the end, Alex had to physically pull her away from his friend.

"Wait, guest room? Am I staying here or something? Hang on," Tom frowned, "What do you mean my stuff is here? Did someone go into my house…?"

Jack turned to Ben. In that moment, the glare that the normally cheerful American gave Fox was so similar to one of Wolf's infamous ones, that the ex-SAS soldier couldn't help but wince.

"YOU HAVEN'T TOLD HIM ABOUT HIS OWN _LIFE_?" Jack shouted, furious.

"With all due respect ma'am," Ben said, slightly in awe, "We weren't sure if it was safe to-"

"THAT IS THE BIGGEST LOAD OF BULL I'VE HEARD SINCE MI6 TOLD THE SCHOOL THAT ALEX HAD APPENDICITIS!"

Alex, Ben and Tom all cringed. Jack glowered at Ben for a few moments longer, before turning to Tom, a worried expression on her face.

"Come on, dear, I'll go tell you," she said, placing an arm around the taller boy's shoulders and guiding him gently into the living room, murmuring soft words to him all the way there.

Ben looked at Alex in shock.

Alex just shrugged.

"Hey, Wolf's worse."

* * *

"Alex? Can you help me?" Tom asked, standing at Alex's door, his book in his hand. Alex had long finished his homework; he was currently listening to his iPod with his feet up against his table, his heavy hardcover Chemistry book lay forgotten on the ground. At Tom's words he swung himself into a proper sitting position and turned to face him.

"Sure," Alex said, motioning for the boy to come in.

"I just don't understand this! I don't know…I think I'm missing some factors, but every time I try to factor it in, some other factors get out and it just, just doesn't work!" Tom burst out, coming into his friend's room and handing over his book.

Alex gazed at it for a while before turning to Tom. "Okay, so here's your problem…"

Jack smiled from the doorway as she listened to Alex explain things to Tom. It was such a nice change, Alex being able to understand things again. It certainly wasn't like this last year, when he'd been forced out of school so often by the MI6 that he was in danger of failing school altogether.

The red-haired American sighed slightly. She could do with a cup of coffee right now. The agents probably could too. She went downstairs to where both Agents Daniels and Banks sat in the living room.

"Do you boys want anything to drink?" Jack asked. She was quite happy that the MI6 had decided Alex was important enough to protect; according to her, it was about time.

"Just some coffee, thanks," Ben said, "I'm taking the first night watch and I really don't want to fall asleep during that."

Agent Banks snorted slightly, before turning to the American.

"Some hot chocolate would be nice," he said hopefully. In the short time they'd gotten to know the new agent, they'd learnt that he had a very strong sweet tooth, and absolutely loved chocolate.

"Okay, be right back," Jack said, before turning to the kitchen. Behind her, she heard the two agents resume whatever conversation they previously had in hushed tones. Humming to herself, she got out three cups and the jars that held the coffee and the chocolate power. While waiting for the water to heat, she stared out the window, gazing at the darkness outside.

The water finished boiling, letting out a whole bunch of steam into the kitchen. She was just about to pour the water into the cups when a loud shattering sound broke through what had previously been silence.

"BEN! ANDREW!" Alex's yell could probably have been heard from the other end of the street. The two agents bolted up the stairs, their guns drawn. Jack could hear the scuffles of what appeared to be a fight. Quickly making up her mind, she ran upstairs, the kettle of boiling water still in her hand.

She arrived at the door in time to see both MI6 agents being disarmed. There were three Scorpia agents; two of them were now engaged with Ben and Andrew. Alex fought the third, although it was clear from his slight limp and swollen lip that he'd originally faced all three agents. The window lay in pieces, scattered across the ground. Jack saw Tom under Alex's bed. He looked up at her and pointed at Alex with an annoyed look on his face; apparently the teenage spy had shoved his friend under his bed before engaging.

With a pained shout, Alex was thrown across the room; he hit the opposite wall, and though remained on his feet, looked slightly dazed. The Scorpia agent he'd been facing leapt towards him, ready to deliver what was no doubt an extremely painful blow.

No-one other than Tom saw Jack enter the fray. Opening the lid of the kettle still in her hand, she promptly threw its contents at the man. The still boiling water flew across the room, and smacked the Scorpia agent right across the face. The man howled in pain, all thoughts of attempting to punch the lights out of the teenage spy gone. He clasped both his hands to his face in agony, as the boiling water bit into him.

The distraction was just what Alex needed. The boy picked up his thick hardcover Chemistry book off the floor, and swung it around at the agent. The hardcover connected with the skull of the man; an audible crunch was heard. Then the man dropped to the ground; unconscious or dead, Alex wasn't hanging around to find out.

Alex turned, and hurled the heavy book across the room at the agent who was currently attempting to strangle Ben. The book bounced off the man's head, giving Ben a moment to spin out of the man's arms before darting in to deliver a blow straight to the man's neck, SAS style. Needless to say, the Scorpia agent collapsed.

At the same moment, the agent whom Andrew Banks was fighting landed a blow across the MI6 agent's nose. It promptly shattered under the impact, and Banks shut his eyes briefly, wincing in pain. Before the Scorpia agent could step in for the final blow, he was set upon by both Alex and Ben, and brought down to the floor, pile-up style. Alex reached across and pinched the large vein at the base of his neck, hard, to cut off circulation to the man's brain. The agent struggled violently, then abruptly fainted.

Panting, Alex got off Ben who in turn got off the unconscious agent. Jack went over to Banks, and helped him out of the room and back down the stairs, where she then phoned the number Banks muttered to her through his pain which put her in touch with Mrs Jones.

Upstairs, Alex and Ben surveyed the mess that had once been Alex's bedroom. Tom crawled out from under the boy's bed, coughing.

"Jeez, Alex! When was the last time you vacuumed under there?" He exclaimed, then subsided into another fit of coughs.

* * *

They arrived at the Royal and General Bank at about nine that night. Special cars had been provided for them, though Agent Banks was driven across to St Dominic's in order for his nose to be fixed.

They were currently waiting outside of Mr Blunt's office. Only Jack and Tom hadn't been there before, and they looked around them with something close to awe in their eyes.

"We're inside _MI6 headquarters_!!!" Tom had exclaimed when Alex asked him why he was so excited, "How can I _not_ be excited?" Apparently, the boy watched way too many movies.

The door opened, and Mrs Jones walked out.

"He'll see you now," she said, gesturing for them to come in. Alex and Ben led the way, Jack and Tom lingering behind. They didn't really belong there, and their awe wasn't strong enough to overcome their discomfort.

"Ah, Alex, Agent Daniels, sit down," Mr Blunt said from behind his table, "Miss Starbright! Long time no see! And you must be Mr Harris! Have a seat, please."

Alex and Ben almost stared at the head of Special Operations in shock; they'd _never_ seen him being polite to _anyone_ before. But, like the trained spies they were, their shocked expressions quickly switched to a blank look of indifference.

"Mr Harris, tonight must've been the third attempt for Scorpia to get you," Blunt said, addressing the black-haired boy, "How do you feel about your current situation?"

Tom stared, gaping for a moment before replying. He distinctly remembered that Alex said Blunt was one to order, not to ask. And he was slightly nervous under the look Blunt was giving him.

"Um, well, it's sort of a relief that you moved my parents away, I guess," he said, just for something to say, "And, um, I don't really feel much because I know that Alex will fight them off. He's good at doing that."

Alex smothered a grin.

"And Miss Starbright, how do you feel about the guards in your house?" Blunt turned to Jack with the same stare.

"I think it's about time you came to your senses and realised that Alex is a real person, and someone worth protecting," Jack stated, not even slightly cowed by Blunt. Honestly, her glare was a thousand times worse.

"Right. Well, now that that's settled, Mr Harris, Miss Starbright, would you mind waiting outside for a moment please?" Blunt said. Though it sounded like a suggestion, the look in his eyes told them that it was in fact an order. The two rose and left, glancing at Alex before shutting the door.

"Alex, that's the third time you've been forced to fend for yourself and Mr Harris. I do apologise," Blunt said, though he didn't sound very sorry, "I am arranging for another guard to be placed in your house, one who will follow-"

"Hang on!" Alex cut him off, "I don't want any more guards, thank you very much! Ben and Andrew are enough!"

"Alex, this situation we have is very dangerous. All three times in which Scorpia have tried to get Harris, you've been forced to fight. I will _not _lose my best agent because others are too _incompetent _to do their jobs properly." Mr Blunt shot Ben a paint-peeling glare, and ex-SAS soldier looked down at his hands bashfully.

Alex sat in shock. Did Mr Blunt just _compliment _him? The teenage boy shook his head slightly, deciding to dwell on that later. For now though…

"It's not Ben's fault that I have to keep fighting," Alex protested, slightly indignantly, "We just keep being targeted when we're doing things that only kids have to do. Like homework," he said, remembering tonight, "Or eating lunch in a cafeteria. Unless you're suggesting that he follow us around everywhere…No," Alex suddenly said. He'd realised Blunt's plan.

"No, I will _not_ let a fully grown man follow me and Tom around everywhere! No offence, Ben," Alex added. Ben shrugged, no offence taken.

Unknowingly for Alex, the blonde boy had just played right into Blunt's hand.

"You won't let one of my agents follow you around? Not a fully grown man?" Blunt asked as if to reaffirm the facts, "Nor, I presume a fully grown woman?" Alex shook his head firmly.

Blunt almost smiled. The boy was making this too easy.

"How about a girl then?"

* * *

_Well, well, well. I think we can all guess who the girl is going to be!_

_So, how are you liking the sequel so far? Is it awesome? Does it suck? Should I have been drowned at birth for even thinking of writing a sequel? Tell me in a __**review**__!_

_Also, someone asked me if there was going to be Ben/Jack slash. Does that mean that the two go out? Is that what you guys want? If yes or no, tell me!!!_

_Hope to hear from you all! Remember, anonymous reviews excepted, I just won't be able to give you a personal answer!_

_Love Chariots99_


	3. From the Land Down Under

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan and Jacob Wood)._

_**IMPORTANT NOTE!!!** __I've also had an interesting proposition, and I was wondering what you all think of this. Who wants Desiree/Alex? Please let me know, because I think it's very interesting. If you are absolutely against Dessi/Alex, let me know too!_

**Chapter ****3**

It was Thursday evening. The day after Scorpia's third attempt. Alex and Tom had been hurried home straight after a boring day at school, and had all but been ordered to finish their homework. Dinner was a rushed affair, Jack's famous ten-minute meals plated up, set on the table, and finished in under twenty minutes. Then Ben had thrown their coats at them, and had ordered the two boys out the house.

A dull silver car, the property of MI6, came to meet them. Getting out of the car was Agent John Crawley. He would be relieving Agent Andrew Banks while the latter's nose was still being fixed. Ben almost had to force the two boys into the car; they weren't too happy about being manhandled, and were making their opinion well known. Ben had then gotten behind the wheel, and driven away, leaving Crawley to introduce himself to Jack.

Now they were at the airport. Waiting. Due to the snow, the flight had been delayed slightly while the airport controllers were trying to make it safe to land. Alex and Tom had further protested, saying that Ben should have known about the delay, and they didn't really need to hurry. After a while, the two boys had calmed down. Now, all three of them were in the seats of the waiting lounge, bored out of their minds.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish I brought some homework," Tom groaned, "At least then I would be able to blame _something_ for my boredom! Who are we waiting for, anyway?"

Alex hadn't told him much about the AIS, and nothing at all about the girl he'd met in Australia. Granted, he didn't know exactly what to tell the boy.

"You'll see when the plane arrives," Alex said, leaning back against the hard chair and closing his eyes.

"_Why_ are you keeping this a secret? Why, Alex? Oh, please put me out of my misery-OW!" Tom exclaimed, jumping out of his seat and massaging the arm Alex had just hit, "Alex! I told you _not_ to hit me!"

"Tom, please sit down and lower your voice; people are staring," Ben said, though he didn't take his head out of his hands, so his voice came out slightly muffled. Tom huffed, sent Alex an annoyed glare, and took his seat. Then he immediately jumped up again.

"Hey look! People are starting to come through!" He exclaimed, pointing across at the barrier. Alex and Ben raised their heads as a herd of people came through, having already landed and cleared customs while Tom had been yelling and massaging his arm.

The last people to come through were a slightly mismatched pair; a girl of fifteen and a man of twenty-one. The girl was quite pretty, with blonde hair that fell just a little past her shoulders. She had crystal blue eyes that seemed to absorb every detail in the room. The man had light brown hair and alert hazel eyes. Though his stance said otherwise, he was extremely tense in the new territory, glancing at everyone who passed with suspicion. Both wore slightly dirty sneakers, long jeans and jumpers that were way too thin for them to withstand the current weather. They both had in their hands sports bags, and it seemed that they'd managed to fit all they needed into them. The girl shivered slightly from the cold while her eyes scanned the room. Then they landed on Alex's brown ones. Suddenly the girl's face lit into a smile.

"Alex!" She exclaimed and bounded over to them, her bag swinging wildly by her side, while the man stared after her, slightly amused by her enthusiasm. It seemed that both her knee and voice had fully healed. Alex stood, walking towards her before realising what she was about to do and firmly braced his feet into the floor. The girl threw her arms around him, her momentum enough to send him staggering back a couple of steps before he regained his balance. The large bag in her hand thumped him in the back, mercifully missing his head.

"Alex! How are you?" She said when she let go. The man reached them and sent the girl a reproachful look for abandoning him, a look she completely ignored.

"Well, I think I just broke a couple of ribs," Alex wheezed. She laughed, and playfully smacked his arm before turning to Ben.

"Agent Daniels. It is good to see you again," she said, holding out her hand. The sudden change from child to adult threw Ben for a second, before he nodded in reply and shook her hand. Then she turned to survey the final member of her welcoming party.

"You must be…Tom Harris," she said, glancing at Alex for confirmation. Then she held out her hand again, "Desiree Swan, though it's easier being shortened to just Dessi. And this is Jacob Wood, or just Jake," she added, gesturing to her field partner who was currently talking and shaking hands with Ben.

"Uh…yea, hi," Tom stuttered, reaching out to shake the girl's hand, "You know, you have a really strong accent. Is it, Australian?"

"Yes. Your accent is strong too," she replied, gently extracting her hand when Tom showed no signs that he would have let it go, just as Jake turned to them.

He was looking Tom up and down, a slight frown on his face. Tom stared back, slightly nervous, and glanced at Alex who nodded reassuringly. Abruptly, Jake broke into a smile, and extended his hand like Dessi had done.

"Jake," he said.

"Tom," the boy replied, shaking the man's hand.

Ben glanced between the three teens and sighed. Bending slightly, he wrestled Dessi's bag out of her hand and lead the way to their car. Jake fell in step with Ben, his own bag still in his hand, and the two started a conversation about what appeared to be the weather. Tom ran slightly to catch up to Dessi, Alex walking slightly behind them.

"So… Australia huh?" Tom asked, falling in step with Desiree.

"Yep," she replied.

"Is it true that people ride around on kangaroos in Australia?"

Desiree stopped suddenly, and turned to stare at Tom, confused. Alex sighed.

"Sorry, Des, could you excuse us for a sec?" Alex didn't wait for a reply before dragging his friend away from the bemused girl.

"What are you doing?" Alex hissed.

"Chatting her up," Tom said without a trace of embarrassment.

"By asking her if people ride around on kangaroos? What are you, crazy?"

"Well, ya gotta start somewhere, right?"

Alex sighed. "The next stupid thing that comes out of your mouth will be the last," he threatened before dragging the boy back to the waiting girl.

"I don't think I'm even going to ask," she said, her crystal blue eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Thanks," Alex muttered, shooting his friend a glare before they walked out into the cold. Dessi shivered slightly, hugging herself and stamping her feet as Ben hurried them towards their parked car.

Tom glanced across worriedly at the girl, before removing his scarf and draping it around her neck, startling her and making her jump.

"Sorry, you just looked kinda cold," he murmured. The girl gave him a small, hesitant smile before wrapping the scarf tighter around herself, trying to keep out as much of the cold as possible.

"It's summer in Australia," she said, "I wasn't ready for it to be so cold up here. Or for there to be so much _snow_," she added, glancing around her at the blanketing whiteness.

"So…which part of Australia are you from?" Tom asked as they climbed into the back seat of the car while Jake took the front and Ben sat at the wheel. Dessi was squished in between Alex and Tom, her bag on her knees.

"Perth," Dessi said, glancing at the boy with sparkling eyes.

They lapsed into silence for a while. Dessi decided to break it before it got too uncomfortable.

"You know," she said conversationally, "It never snows in Perth."

Tom turned to stare at her.

"_Never_? So, like in winter, no snow?" He asked incredulously. Dessi shook her head, smiling slightly at his shock, "So, you've never seen snow before?"

"No, I've seen it a couple of times, but it's never been this heavy," she said, gesturing out of the car windows.

"Where've you seen snow?"

"China, Denmark, Ireland, Paris, America…" The girl listed off, counting on her fingers, "Er, I think that's it. I've just never been there when the real heavy snow falls."

Tom gaped at her. "Why have you been to so many places?"

"Classified."

Alex cringed as the spiky haired boy frowned. "Funny, that's what Alex always used to say whenever……OH MY GOD!!!" He suddenly exclaimed, making all the occupants of the car jump in shock. The car swerved slightly as Ben's hand jerked on the steering wheel.

"TOM!" He shouted, "Keep your voice to a decent level!"

Tom completely ignored the MI6 agent in favour of swinging his head from Alex to Dessi and back again, all the while gaping at them wordlessly.

"Do you work for MI6?" He asked.

Dessi looked slightly taken aback. "No."

"Do you work for any intelligence service?"

"Classified."

"Dessi…" Jake said warningly.

"It's okay Dessi, Jake. Tom knows about my…work," Alex said tiredly. Dessi raised her eyebrows at Tom, who nodded in confirmation, looking slightly pleased.

"So, know are you going to answer me?" Tom's tone said that he fully expected an answer.

"Classified," Dessi said just to annoy him, and her lips curved up into a smirk when the boy let out a moan of frustration and turned to her with large pleading eyes.

"Okay, fine," she said, giving in, "AIS."

"AIS! But then…" Tom leaned around Dessi so he could see his friend. Extending an arm, he punched the boy. "Why didn't you tell me about _her?_ I ask if anything interesting happened. _She's_ interesting!"

"She's also within listening distance of your conversation," Dessi said, her voice amused, though Tom didn't hear her comment. He spent the rest of the trip home muttering about friends who "keep the most interesting things from you and think they're doing you a favour".

When the car pulled up outside of a house, Dessi was so happy for the journey to be over that she jumped out of the car...only to slip on the snowy ground and fall over backwards, tucking in her head so it wouldn't hit the car.

"Dessi! Are you okay?" Tom asked, having hurried across around the back of the car to kneel next to the girl. Dessi started laughing, and when she did, she couldn't stop. Jake started laughing too once he found his field partner on the ground. Tom and Alex joined her laughter, though they didn't know what was so funny. Even Ben had a smile pulling on the corners of his lip. The girl's laughter was quite contagious.

At length, the blonde girl recovered enough to be dragged off the snow and hurried inside away from the cold.

"Wow," were the first words out of her mouth as she entered the house. The Christmas decorations were still up, making the living room look like an explosion of colour. The girl's eyes drank in every detail, from the lights to the tinsel, and finally resting at the fire that was merrily burning in the fireplace. She then turned to observe the picture that hung on the wall; it showed Alex, Ian and Jack standing outside what could be the house, except that it wasn't covered in snow.

"Yea," Alex said, pushing past her, "We sort of went overboard with the Christmas decorations. Dessi, do you mind moving away from the door so we can close it? You're kind of letting in the cold."

"Oh, right, sorry." The girl stepped closer inside, and finding that it was quite warm with the fire and no doubt a hidden central heater, she removed the scarf and handed it back to Tom with a thankful smile.

"I'll go get Jack," Alex said, taking the stairs two at a time.

Ben and Tom ushered the wide-eyed girl into the living room, while Jake trailed behind them. She and her field partner sat carefully on the sofa. The girl was staring into the fire. Her eyes were unfocused, her memories showing her a time when she too lived in a home with two people who cared about her more than anything in the world. Jake glanced at her, worried about her silence. Before he could do anything, Alex and Jack came downstairs.

"There they are," Alex's voice broke through, and Dessi blinked several times before returning to reality. Lifting her head, she saw a slim woman with tangled red hair staring at her curiously.

Hastily, Dessi got to her feet. Jake had already stood, recognising the woman from a photo he'd once seen in Alex's file, and assumed that this was the housekeeper, Jack.

"Hello," Jake said with a warm smile, and extended his hand, "I'm Jacob Wood. Jake though, for short. This is my field partner, Dessi."

"Jake, Dessi," Jack smiled, shaking their hands, "I'm Jack. You must be freezing wearing just that jumper. Where's your coat?" She directed the last question to Dessi.

"I don't have one," Dessi admitted, "I outgrew my last one a few years ago, and after that I didn't really need one." In other words, she hadn't been in the snow for the last couple of years.

"Oh, well, we can't let you freeze to death! Come, I'm sure I have something that'll fit you." And so saying, the American dragged the Australian out of the living room and up the stairs. Alex, Tom and Ben looked at each other. They could barely live with one female in the house. How would they cope with two? Jake merely raised an eyebrow, though he kept his mouth shut.

"We'll live," Ben said, though he didn't look too convinced and walked out to find Agent Crawley, beckoning for Jake to join him. Alex threw himself into the sofa, Tom joining him. The two boys sat in a contemplative silence for a while.

"So, she's my guard, and Jake's Jack's guard?" Tom asked, breaking the silence.

"Yep."

"Do you think she'll be alright?"

Alex glanced at his friend. "You sound worried," he said.

"She's just so…thin! It looks like if you hit her, you'll break something. How can she be anything like you?" Tom looked at his friend.

"She's stronger than she looks," Alex grinned, remembering when the two of them had been placed as sparring partners, and the number of bruises he'd had afterwards, "When we sparred together three times; all three ended in a draw. Plus, she was good enough to hold off a Scorpia assassin while her knee was sprained."

Tom nodded. If Alex trusted her, then he would too. Then the black haired boy thought of something else.

"Alex, is she the one you told me who'd never gone to school? Do you reckon we should take her through the, I don't know, the basics of stuff? And stop her holding her hand out to every person she sees?" The boy asked.

Alex looked at his friend, slightly surprised that he himself hadn't thought of that. He didn't really want the girl to make a fool of herself; that would start the teasing, the very reason she'd left school in the first place.

"Yea. Let's go see if we can rescue her from Jack." Alex stood, stretching slightly, before turning for the stairs, Tom right behind.

They found Dessi in Jack's room being forced to try on everything from coats, hats to boots made to walk in the snow. The girl saw the two boys at the door, and shot them a pleading look right before Jack dumped another load of clothes on her.

Biting back a smile, Alex stepped in.

"Sorry Jack, but can you sort this out tomorrow? Only, Dessi doesn't know anything about school, so we should probably introduce her to some…facts," he said, motioning for Dessi to leave. The girl only paused once, to thank Jack for her time. Tom led her away to Alex's room.

"Alex, make sure you show her to the other guest room. I've put her bag there, and there's also a pile of books MI6 dropped off. You might want to go through those too. Oh, and give this bag to her," Jack added, throwing one of her old sling bags across at Alex, "So she has somewhere to _put_ her books. Honestly, you'd think an _intelligence_ service would think of these things…"

Alex left Jack to her ramblings, visited the spare guest room to pick up the pile of books laying on the bed, and carried it back to his room, where he found Tom and Dessi sitting on the bed. Tom was explaining to the girl why she didn't need to shake hands with everyone; Alex came in time to hear him say, "…No I meant people our age who go to school! You still have to shake hands with the Prime Minister, and any other important people. But not students, or teachers _unless_ you have an interview! And that's only with the teachers!"

"Alright, Dessi," Alex said, "I hope you've been doing more work than you did when I was visiting. These are your books, you put them in this bag, you carry this bag across your body-"

"Alex," Desiree sighed, cutting the boy off, "I'm not an idiot."

"Nonetheless, these are things you need to know. We're not in primary school anymore, and as kids get to our age, teasing becomes more…harsh. _Please_ don't throw someone else's bike at the principal," Alex added.

"I didn't throw it _at_ the principal; I threw it at his office window. Besides I have much better control over myself now."

"Okay, fine," Alex sighed.

Tom glanced at the girl.

"Can I just ask you a question?" He said.

"Sure, as long as it's not classified," she replied.

"I don't think it is. Well, I get why you're here, but why did Jake come with you?" Tom asked.

"Yea, and where's the rest of your unit?" Alex added, ignoring the curious look Tom sent him.

"Uh, Dean's spending time with his family, and Terry's on holiday," Dessi said, "And Jake came with me because he's my field partner so he's meant to follow me around. Also, he doesn't want, and here I quote, "rival intelligence agencies getting their hands on you," or that is, me."

Tom and Alex looked at each other, then back at the girl. She stared back. Tom sighed slightly, deciding to change the topic, before going to Alex's bookshelf and removing a thick, hardcover book.

"Right, Dessi," he said, sitting back down while Alex shoved the books into the bag, "This is a yearbook. It has the photos of everyone at the school. These," he said, rapidly flipping the pages until he came to a particular section, "Are the people who are in our year. We're going to tell you as much as we can about each person, so you know who to avoid tomorrow."

"Wait, she's going to school tomorrow?" Alex asked.

"That's what that Jake said; I just asked him," Tom replied.

"But what if she's jetlagged?"

"She's perfectly fine; it's only when she's travelling _forwards_ in time that she gets jetlagged, and England is a fair few hours behind Perth. She'd also like you guys to know that she has perfectly good hearing, and she'd also really appreciate it if you remember that she's here when you start talking," Dessi said with a sweet, innocent smile.

"Well, she's right," Tom said. Dessi punched him in the arm, and the boy leapt to his feet, wincing in pain. The girl dived to save the yearbook.

"ALRIGHT! I'm making a rule!" He shouted, massaging his arm, "As the only non-spy out of us, I _cannot_ be hit. I don't mind if you two punch each other; you're probably used to the pain. But not me! You're both stronger than you look, especially you," Tom glared at Dessi, "And I really don't want any more _bruises_!"

"Okay! Calm down!" Alex said, failing to hide his smile.

Tom huffed and sat back on the bed. Alex came over to join them, sitting on the other side of Dessi so that both he and Tom would be able to reach the yearbook that now lay on Dessi's lap.

"Okay, whose first…Ahh, Michel Alvin," Tom said, glaring at the face in dislike, "You want to avoid him. He enjoys hitting on pretty blonde girls, and you fit perfectly under that category…"

* * *

_And so the lesson continues…_

_Next chapter, Desiree goes to school! How will the other kids react? How will Alex's female fan-club react? Find out next time!!!_

_**IMPORTANT NOTE!!! **__I've also had an interesting proposition, and I was wondering what you all think of this. Who wants Desiree/Alex? Please let me know, because I think it's very interesting. If you are absolutely against Dessi/Alex, let me know too!_

_In the mean time, how did you like this chapter? Was it good? Bad? Tell me in a __**review**__!!!_

_Until next time! Love Chariots99_


	4. To Go To School

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan)._

_**IMPORTANT NOTE:** I'm doing a poll on my page thing about whether you guys prefer Alex/Dessi or Tom/Dessi. Please vote, or tell me in a **review**!!!_

**Chapter 4**

Jake and Dessi woke them up at 5:35 the next morning. It took a while for Alex and Tom to convince the two that there was no use going out for a run, since the entire place was covered with snow. It didn't help that both Agents Crawley and Daniels were yelling at them for waking them up at the crack of dawn. Needless to say, breakfast was an awkward affair, Alex, Tom and Jack finding themselves in the middle of a glaring contest between the MI6 agents and AIS agents. It was a relief to finally be ushered out into the car.

"The plan is that one of us stays with you all the time. Also, you don't go anywhere without telling us. No sneaking off. No evasion techniques. I'd rather you hate me than be killed," Dessi said as Ben drove them to school on Friday. Jake was coming along to help Ben guard the school.

"Des, Tom's thick, not suicidal," Alex sighed.

"Hey!"

Desiree bit back a laugh. "No wondering off on your own," she added before letting it drop.

"And remember, don't mention my last name," she said as they neared the school.

"What was the last name MI6 used anyway?" Tom asked.

"Harwood," Jake said from the front seat.

Tom raised an eyebrow. "Desiree Harwood. Not too bad."

Ben parked the car, and all five of them got out. After wishing Dessi luck, the AIS and MI6 agent went off to join the increased guards patrolling the school. Desiree surveyed the guards, her eyes quickly picking each one out from where they were hiding. Her eyebrows rose slightly as she counted their numbers, and she glanced questioningly at Alex. The boy answered with a shrug.

"You know, I actually feel quite excited today," Tom said as they walked into school, "Some ruthless criminal organisation is after me. I'm being protected by two underage spies. One is a boy who has his own fan-club, and is able to best assassins with his awesome fighting skills. The other is a girl, a typical Australia beauty, able to hold Alex off for three whole rounds. They should _so_ make my life into a movie."

Alex snorted. "And the winner of the century's worst movie is…Tom Harris: My Life."

Desiree choked, trying to hold in her laughter. Seeing the murderous look on Tom's face didn't help. That's what she loved about the two friends. One's life was in danger, the other thinks it's his fault, and yet the two could still joke together, and act like everything's all normal.

"Hey Alex!" A high voice shrieked.

Alex groaned as the footsteps of Cindy Rills echoed behind them.

"Hey, Cindy," he muttered, not bothering to stop or turn.

Cindy shouldered past Tom, pushing him into Desiree and almost knocking them both over. She linked one of her arms though Alex's, ignoring his vain attempts to dislodge her.

"So, how're you doing?"

"Fine," Alex droned. He'd almost memorised the morning routine which the cheerleader had set.

"You still up for tomorrow night?" The girl asked, swinging her waist-length hair around and accidentally smacking it across Desiree's face. The girl glared daggers at the back of Cindy's head, and Tom put a restraining hand on Dessi's shoulder.

"Sure," Alex muttered.

"So, who're you bringing?"

That made Alex stop. He hadn't actually given the planned movies any thought until now; there was too much going on, from the attack at his house, his window being fixed by MI6, picking up Desiree…

Alex glanced questioningly behind him at Tom and Dessi. Both understood his question, and both of them nodded.

"I'm bringing Tom and Desiree," Alex said, making it the first official sentence he'd actually ever said to Cindy.

Cindy froze. "Who's Desiree?"

"Me," Dessi said.

The cheerleader spun on the spot, dragging Alex around with her. In silence she glared at Dessi, looking her up and down, taking in everything from her haircut to her, or rather Jack's, clothes, to Jack's bag.

"Who're you?" Cindy asked, frost in her voice.

"Uh, Dessi," the girl said.

"You're new."

"Wow, really?" Dessi exclaimed sarcastically, "Thank you for pointing that out, I never would've figured it out if you hadn't told me!"

Cindy darkened in anger, and she glared at the girl. Her green eyes bore into Dessi's crystal blue ones. Dessi glared right back.

"You better watch yourself," Cindy hissed, "I can make your life a living hell. I can fix it so that by the end of the day, you'll be so scared you'll wish you were never born."

"Is that a threat?" Dessi asked, her voice low. The two boys looked on anxiously, unsure how to break up the fight, "It's not a very a good one." Dessi took a step closer, her face now millimetres from the taller girl's, "You know, I've stared death right in the face. I've been through pain you couldn't possibly imagine. I've seen things that would give you nightmare for the rest of your life.

" Compared to that, you're just a frightened misinformed girl who seeks attention at school because you think that you don't get enough at home. You're an only child, you've never known what harsh reality is like. A 'living hell' for you would be the equivalent of a day at the beach for me. Now get out of my sight before I make you."

Cindy spun and left, flicking the shorter girl across her face with her hair. She would never admit it, but Dessi's tone, her glare, and her words scared her. There was something about that girl. Something different…

Dessi scowled at the cheerleader's retreating back for a moment before turning to the gaping boys. She raised her eyebrow questioningly, and Alex cleared his throat.

"What was that?" He asked.

"I hate bullies," Dessi answered coolly.

"Riiight..."

"Well, that was fun! When's our first class?" She asked, breaking out into a wide smile.

Tom looked across at Alex.

"Remind me not to get on her bad side."

"Hey Alex!" Another voice shrieked.

Alex groaned, and Tom and Dessi exchanged sympathetic looks before bursting out into laughter. The teenage spy glared at the two.

"Thanks for the support," he muttered.

* * *

Word travels fast around school, especially one with an efficient gossip chain like that of Brookland. It took the rumour of Alex being a druggie all but a day to be spread; it took about two hours before the entire school knew about the new Australian girl who had shouted down Cindy Rills, yes, Cindy Rills as in the head cheerleader.

As she tailed Alex and Tom from class to class, Desiree noticed a discerning number of girls staring at her, their mouths agape and their eyes burning with something close to jealousy. There were an equal number of boys who swaggered up and tried to introduce themselves before being turned away by the glare on Alex's face.

"Do people normally stare?" Dessi asked in an amiable voice as they ate their lunch.

"No. It's just because you're new, and people have nothing better to do with their lives," Alex muttered and Tom nodded, his mouth too full for him to even think about speaking.

Desiree picked slightly at her food. She wasn't used to the stares, and it was getting hard to concentrate on finding potential threats when she could feel hundreds of eyes boring into her back. It was making her slightly nervous, not to mention extremely annoyed and frustrated. After so many missions, most spies developed an instinct that seemed to warn them when someone was watching; she knew that Alex had, and she knew that she had as well. But that instinct was pretty much useless now if everyone insisted on staring.

"Alex, I'm going to need the bathroom," Tom sighed, standing up from his lunch.

"Why are you telling me?" Alex asked. He'd been in a very bad mood all morning, so naturally their plan of protection slipped from his mind.

"Uh, Alex, the plan?"

"Oh, right, sorry. Des, will you be alright for a while?" Alex asked.

Crystal blue eyes lit up in mirth. "Alex. What's the worst thing that could happen to me? My lunch spilling? The table collapsing on my legs? Someone starting a food fight?"

"Okay, I get it," Alex said, and followed Tom away.

It seemed that many people in the cafeteria had been waiting for just that moment when the Australian was out of the watchful eye of Alex Rider. Immediately a group of girls drifted over, arranging themselves on the neighbouring tables.

"So…" a hazel-eyed girl with curly brown hair began, "I heard you were the new girl."

"You heard right," Dessi replied, not even bothering to keep the boredom out of her voice.

"How do you know Alex?"

Luckily the three of them had discussed it last night, just in case.

"I would be his late uncle's associate's daughter," she lied. She'd had to use the excuse of being someone's daughter so many times that it no longer hurt, though it still did twinge slightly if she thought about her first steps in life.

"Do you mean you're the daughter of a spy?"

"Do I have to justify that with an answer?"

"Amanda, leave the poor girl alone," a new voice joined in. Suddenly the gathering of girls began giggling and swooning, all seemingly eager to catch the eye of the three boys, two flanking the one who appeared to be the leader.

"I haven't said anything though," Amanda pouted.

Dessi rolled her eyes and turned to study the newcomers. The one who appeared to be the leader had light brown hair that fell into his deep blue eyes. The boy on his right had darker hair and dark, narrowed eyes. The remaining boy was blonde, with sky blue eyes a shade lighter than that of Tom's.

"I'm Braedon," the light brown haired boy said, noticing the Aussie eyeing them, "These are my mates, Brody," the dark haired one, "And Liam," the blonde, "And who might you be?"

"Dessi."

"Ah. You're the new girl who shouted down Cindy this morning, aren't you?" Braedon asked.

"Sure, why not," Dessi replied, deadpanned. She just wasn't interested in this, and was subtly hinting with her eyes for the boy to get lost.

"You know, your eyes are really amazing," the boy apparently didn't get her hint.

Okay, time for a more direct approach in getting rid of him. "Seeing you walk away from me would be pretty amazing."

Two boys snorted from behind the wall of girls. The girls looked around in confusion, before parting to reveal Tom and Alex standing with their arms folded, Tom with a smirk on his face, and Alex with a glare that could peel paint.

"Ah, our resident James Bond," Braedon exclaimed. Some of the gathered girls giggled at this statement, and Dessi quietly stood from her seat in case she needed to restrain Alex. Or to save Braedon from Alex, though she hoped she wouldn't have to do that.

"Piss off, Braedon, she doesn't want to talk to you," Alex snarled. He'd had a rough history with Braedon; the boy and his gang had been the first to start the rumours of 'Alex the Druggie', and still tried to give the spy as much trouble as possible.

"Don't talk to me like that, druggie," Braedon sneered.

"You shouldn't really talk to _him_ like that," Dessi muttered quietly.

"Oh, and why not?" Braedon asked, turning to look into the girl's crystal blue eyes.

"Because you are under MI6 protection for as long as Alex wants you to be. The minute he tells them otherwise, you would find yourself out in the snow, pleading for the mercy that no-one would give you before what would undoubtedly be your very painful death. Plus he could rip you to shreds in about three seconds," Dessi said, glaring up at the boy, "So, you know, by all means if you feel you can handle Alex's enemies with no protection, be my guest and keep insulting him. Until then, I'd suggest you keep your mouth shut."

There was silence. Braedon's mouth hung wide open in shock. Never in his _life_ had a girl spoken to him so forcefully, and with hatred and annoyance. The only feminine contact he's ever had was with swooning girls, and girls cueing up to worship him.

Brody and Liam stared at their leader, then at the new girl, then back again. Tom sniggered at the situation; Alex broke out into an appreciative grin. The surrounding girls appeared confused as to where to look; they compromised by trying to stare at all the boys, without any luck. Amanda gazed at Alex.

In the end, it was Dessi who broke the silence. She crossed her arms, and leaned forward slightly, her eyes narrowed in dislike.

"I suggest you leave now," she said quietly. Braedon all but bolted, dragging Brody and Liam back with him to their table where another two boys were waiting for their return. Desiree turned her glare on Amanda, who visibly flinched, "You should leave too."

The brown haired girl stared at her for a moment, then nodded and walked away, squeezing past Alex and Tom. Just before she was gone, though, she paused next to Alex and, standing on tiptoe, pressed a kiss on his cheek. Alex froze.

"I'll see you soon," she whispered with a wink, before leading the rest of her friends away.

Alex glanced behind him, making sure Amanda was out of range, before hastily wiping his cheek with his sleeve. Tom bit back a snort, and Dessi turned to sit back down before anyone could see the smile on her face. Sometimes, the spy acted way too much like a child.

"Don't worry, mate," Tom said, choking back a laugh, "I'll protect you. I'll make sure no-one ever kisses your cheek again." The boy then had to duck as Alex took a swing at his head.

* * *

They passed through the rest of the day without further incidents. Or any attempts to get to Tom. There was just a new level of hostility, as the anger between Alex and Braedon was renewed. It was a relief for school to be over; Braedon had spent the time he had when he was in Alex's classes trying to annoy the boy as much as possible, and Tom and Dessi had spent the time restraining Alex from doing anything stupid in retaliation.

Ben and Jake met the three at his car.

"How was school?" Jake asked as they all piled in.

"Exhausting," Dessi sighed. She'd been through training, missions, torture, and certain death, and yet she felt like that one day at school had completely and utterly drained away all her spirit and energy faster than all her previous experiences.

"You'll get used to it," Tom grinned, noticing how the girl was almost falling asleep on her feet.

"Is it like this every day?" She muttered, turning her head slightly so she could get comfortable.

"Well, depends. Sometimes it's worse. I'd say that Monday's going to be worse, since we started so many fights today. But don't worry," Tom added hastily as Dessi groaned, "It's the weekends now! Two whole, blissful days with nothing to do-"

"Except homework, catch-up work, and going to the movies tomorrow," Alex said, "I don't even know which is worse."

They lapsed into a short silence. Dessi took that time to try and fall asleep. It didn't work too well when Alex broke the silence.

"Why are we going to the _Bank_?!" He exclaimed when he suddenly realised they weren't heading for his house.

"Blunt wants to see you," Ben replied, smirking slightly. Dessi and Jake traded a _look_.

"But I don't want to see him!"

"That doesn't really change much, Alex."

Alex sighed and sunk as far as he could into his seat. He knew that this probably wasn't about a mission or anything, but there was still a sense of foreboding which was always present when he was in the vicinity of the Royal and General Bank.

It would be Jake and Dessi's first time inside the headquarters of MI6, and though Dessi would never admit it, she was quite nervous. It wasn't every day you meet the head of the Special Operations, after all. She was also quite apprehensive. AIS had tapped into the Perth International Airport security footage after Alex had left. They'd seen the boy smashing up something small, which only Dessi knew what it was. The girl wasn't sure whether to be thankful or not that Alex smashed up her USB, which contained her file on it. She'd also never mentioned that she knew the boy had destroyed it.

_I hope Blunt doesn't feel the need to interrogate me_, Dessi thought with a sigh.

The five of them rode up the elevator in silence. Alex and Dessi were both worried, though about slightly different things. Ben was slightly nervous; he usually was when he had to meet with Mr Blunt. Jake was hiding his nerves better than the others, though he wasn't too sure how he'd react if MI6 tried to pull something with his field partner. Tom was just completely indifferent, since he knew Blunt wasn't exactly interested in him.

"Ah, you've finally made it," Mr Blunt said as they walked into his office. Mrs Jones was already there, standing behind the man's table. The man gestured at them to sit, although only Tom took the offered seat.

"Mr Daniels, wait outside please," Blunt said, and Ben exited the office again.

Blunt turned to examine the teenagers. Harris, the seated boy, looked completely bored. Alex's face was impassive, just the way he'd trained it to be. The twenty-one year old Blunt figured was Jacob Wood, the AIS agent. He wasn't as elusive as his field partner though, and they knew a fair bit about his family if not about him.

Then he looked at the new girl, the one he'd never seen before. He knew who she was, but there had never been a face to match the name.

"Ah, you must be Desiree Swan," Blunt said, and the blonde girl nodded once, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"I'm not sure I could say the same, sir," Dessi said.

Alex almost choked. Tom did choke, and he turned to look at the blue-eyed girl with an open expression of shock. Mrs Jones stared at the girl with wide eyes, having never heard _anyone_ be so…forthright with Blunt. Jake remained impassive, though he figured the girl would have said something like that.

Dessi held the head of the SO's gaze until he dropped it. Her crystal blue eyes blinked once in triumph, before blanking over all emotions once more.

"Well, be that as it may," Blunt said, being the first to recover, "I am very interested to meet you. I'm sure that you are well aware of your…ah…non-existent status. I'm wondering if you could shed some light on that."

Dessi looked at him impassively for a moment before responding. When she'd left Australia, the Director had warned her that MI6 would try and get some answers. She'd been given permission to answer questions within reason. So she decided to answer this one.

"Well, sir, I was born without a birth certificate due to an unfortunate circumstance at my birth. I've never been enrolled at school, nor been registered on the government census. Nor have I ever applied for a passport, sir."

"Then how did you get into the country?"

"Sorry sir, but that's classified."

"I see…" Blunt trailed off and stared hard at the Aussie girl. She was so similar, and yet completely different to Alex. It was obvious that, like Alex, the girl was Australia's secret weapon. But they'd gone to great lengths to protect her identity. Blunt sighed.

"Is there anything you can tell me?" He asked.

"Not really, sir, no," Dessi replied, refusing to look away from Blunt.

"Very well, then. Alex, please accompany Miss Swan down to Smithers. He is our covert weapons specialist, though I have no doubt you already know that," he added with a look at the passively staring blue-eyed girl.

Desiree didn't respond at all to the badly veiled question; she merely turned and walked out of the door, Alex trailing her until they reached the elevators again. Then Alex burst into laughter.

"That was awesome!" He chuckled, "Did you see the look on Blunt's face? I can't believe you actually told him you didn't want to meet him! That was hilarious!"

"Are you done?" Desiree asked with a grin on her face. It was fun watching Alex act like a child. It reminded her that there was still hope in the world.

"Yea," Alex said, still smiling, "Come on, let's go see Smithers. I wander why he wants to see us? Probably got some gadget or other…"

"Hope it doesn't blow up," Dessi muttered as the two entered the lift.

"Don't worry!" Alex said, "They don't blow up without good reason!"

"That's supposed to comfort me?"

"Um…well, yes."

* * *

_And that's the end of chapter 4! Stay tuned to find out what Smithers wants…I'll have to think up more gadgets now!_

_Anyways, how did you like the chapter? Was it awesome? Did it suck so bad that you wanted to chuck your computer out the window? Please tell me in a __**Review!!!**_

_**IMPORTANT NOTE:** I'm doing a poll on my page thing about whether you guys prefer Alex/Dessi or Tom/Dessi. Please vote, or tell me in a **review**!!!_

_Remember __**anonymous reviews accepted! **__I just won't be able to personally answer you!_

_Love Chariots99_


	5. Exploding Bracelets

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan)._

_**IMPORTANT NOTE**: I'm doing a poll on my web page thing about whether or not it should be Dessi/Alex or Dessi/Tom. Make sure you guys vote, or just tell me in a **review**!!!xox_

**Chapter 5**

"Alex! Very long time no see!" Smithers exclaimed, "How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks," Alex said with a genuine smile. Smithers was the only person Alex felt genuinely cared about him in MI6, "I'd like you to meet Desiree. She's here from Australia to help protect my friend."

Alex stepped aside slightly so that Smithers could see the girl. The man's eyes lit up almost immediately.

"Hello! Well met, well met indeed!" Smithers said, shaking the girl's hand.

"Thanks," Dessi smiled.

"You know, when Mr Blunt said we'd have a female visitor, I was extremely happy! It's one thing making gadgets for Alex, but I'd always wanted to try making one for a girl! You are lucky enough to be my guinea pig!" And so saying, Smithers turned to a cabinet and began rummaging around for something.

Dessi shot Alex a worried look. She didn't like the sound of being a guinea pig, but Alex glanced at her calmly, clearing telling her with his expression that the man was trustworthy.

"Ah!" Smithers exclaimed, "Here we are!" In his hand he held a silver bracelet with what appeared to be small clip-on charms. He handed it to Dessi, who closely inspected each of the four dangling charms that was attached to the bracelet. The charms were all different shaped; flower, water droplet, pointy leaf, and what appeared to be a sun.

"Oh, it's the four seasons!" Dessi said.

"Exactly! I decided to model it on the Australian weather system, rather than the weather we have here. The flower and leaf are pretty self-explanatory; spring and autumn respectively. I've heard that summer in Australia is extremely hot," Smithers said.

"You have no idea," Alex muttered, thinking back to a couple of weeks ago when he was in Australia. Dessi shot him an amused look before turning back to the gadget expert.

"Exactly! So, I've made summer in the shape of a sun! And finally, since there's no snow in Australia, or at least none in Perth, winter is represented by the water droplet, which is supposed to be rain!" Smithers finished, grinning.

"Err…thanks," Dessi muttered, not sure what to do. Smithers seemed to sense her hesitation, for he burst into laughter before continuing.

"Oh, I didn't give that to you as a keepsake!" He said, "It's actually a weapon, since MI6 doesn't let you two carrying guns around."

Dessi's eyebrows raised, and she threw Alex a look of shock. Alex nodded to confirm Smithers statement, and the girl turned slowly back to the man.

"Three of those charms are actually explosives. Completely harmless if you leave it on the bracelet of course. But once you remove it, those things will explode in ten seconds exactly. Each charm has the potential to blow up an entire room, so be careful with it. The force of the explosion is directional, and will only explode through the side of the charm that is engraved. So if you want to blow up the floor, make sure to place it upside down. I got the idea from the explosive earring I made for Alex, back when he was due to infiltrate Point Blanc Academy," Smithers added, smiling at Alex.

"Anyway, the only one of those charms which isn't an explosive is the water droplet. If you remove _that_ charm, in ten seconds an extremely powerful sleeping gas will be released. Just be careful you don't breathe it in yourself! You'd be knocked out for at least two hours!" Smithers said with a grin, "Also, contained inside the clip on the bracelet is a tracking device. I hope you don't mind, but MI6 reckons we're going to need it. So, as soon as you put the bracelet on, the tracking device will start and won't stop until I tell it to, even if you remove the bracelet. So, do you like it?"

A smile slowly began to form on Desiree's face. Her crystal blue eyes lit up as she looked at the silver bracelet in her hand.

"This is so cool! Thank you!" She said.

"No worries at all!" Smithers replied before turning to Alex.

"Now Alex, I was going to make you another exploding ear-stud, but I've noticed that your ear piercing is gone. So, I've resorted to an exploding watch system. Here you go," he added, handing over a watch with leather bands rather than metal.

"Does it explode if I try to take it off after I put it on?" Alex asked shrewdly, remembering the earring he'd been given before he went to Point Blanc Academy. Smithers burst into laughter, and Dessi wasn't quick enough to bite back a smile.

"Don't be silly boy! I wouldn't do that to you!" Smithers chuckled, "No. See the pin on the side which, on normal watches, is used to adjust the time? Well on this one, if you push it in, like this," Smithers said while demonstrating, "Then the glass protecting the actual watch pops open. See? Now, the longest hand on the watch is a very powerful explosive, the shorter hand less so. The seconds hand releases the sleeping gas, the same one as in the charm bracelet. You have thirteen seconds after removing the hands before they either blow up or knock you out. There's also an inbuilt tracking device on yours too. MI6 has some new policy nowadays…"Smithers trailed off with a hint of a scowl.

Alex grinned at the man.

"Thanks for these," he said, putting on his watch, "I'm sure they'll come in handy."

"No worries! I just want to make sure that the two of you are safe! Now if you don't mind, I have to get back to my work. Good luck with your protecting of Mr Harris!"

Recognising a dismissal, Dessi and Alex left, to find Ben, Jake and Tom waiting for them outside.

"Ready?" Ben asked as Tom and Jake glanced at the pair curiously.

Alex and Dessi nodded.

"Okay, let's go."

* * *

The three teens were gathered in Alex's room after dinner. They worked on their homework together, so that it would be done quicker and they would have more free time over the weekend. It turns out that Desiree wasn't actually that bad at school, despite missing out on education for almost eight years of her life.

"Um," the girl started, breaking the silence after nearly an hour of solid working, "Can someone help me with this? I'm not sure I quite understand how the play repeatedly subverts the paradigm of feminine submission…It's slightly confusing actually."

They were working on an essay set by the English teacher on a play called 'Ghosts' by Henrik Ibsen. They play was really controversial during its time of release, due to all the feminist issues which Ibsen tackled, issues which the society didn't really want to face.

"Well, Ibsen subverts this ideology by portraying the shattered remains of the life led by Mrs Alving, who is shown to have been forced by society to obey the path of duty…" Tom explained while the Aussie girl stared at him with slightly gaping mouth.

"Wow, hold on!" Dessi exclaimed, throwing her hands up, "Can you say that in a language I actually understand?"

"Sorry, but I'm actually just reading it off Alex's essay," Tom said, trying to see his friend's essay upside down.

"Hey!" Alex laughed, hiding his essay.

There was a small knock at the door. They looked up to see Jack leaning against the doorframe, gazing at the three. Alex looked up at Jack, who motioned at him to get to the phone, and mouthed the word "Bank". Alex got up with a slight frown and exited the room, followed by Jack after she gave the remaining two a reassuring smile. Tom and Dessi looked after him worriedly.

"I wonder what they want," Tom said, "We were over there just this afternoon."

"They probably forgot to tell him something or other," Dessi said, shaking her left wrist slightly and making the silver bracelet tinkle.

"Maybe…"Tom trailed off doubtfully. From all the stories Alex had told him about MI6, he wasn't sure that they were the type to just forget about something.

After a minute of silence, Alex came back into the room. There was a slight expression of shock plastered onto his face. He sat down hard on the floor, while Tom and Dessi scrambled up into a sitting position.

"Alex? Are you okay?" Tom asked.

"Yea…" Alex's voice was slightly hoarse.

"What happened?" Dessi asked softly, afraid she might offend him somehow.

Alex gazed at the girl, then at his best friend. Both were looking at him without blinking. Their expressions were so similar that the teenage spy couldn't help bursting out into laughter. If anything, that made the other two even more worried, and they now looked at the laughing boy as if worried for his sanity.

"Al, what the-?"

"Your expressions are hilarious!" Alex laughed, while Tom and Desiree glanced at each other, slightly bemused.

"Are you going to tell us what they wanted?" Tom prodded his friend slightly.

Alex nodded, fighting to get himself back under control.

"They," he began, then paused for added suspense. It didn't go down so well with the other two, and Alex suddenly found both of his pillows flying through the air at him. He ducked, then started to laugh again.

"Alex…"Tom trailed off warningly.

"Okay, they called to wish me…a happy birthday!" Alex finished before dissolving into fits again. Dessi had a small smile on her face, while Tom looked extremely confused.

"I thought your birthday was on Sunday?" He said. Alex nodded rapidly, still laughing, "Then why did they wish you a happy birthday today?"

"It's actually MI6 policy to inform their agents of…special occasions two days prior. Either to remind them or to look like they didn't forget," Dessi said. When Tom turned his gaze to her, she sighed slightly before saying, "Don't ask how, but trust me, I know."

"How come they've never said happy birthday before?"

"Well, there could be a couple of reasons. Alex was in hospital last year," Dessi counted them off, "They hadn't sorted out their computer system, they didn't see him as an actual MI6 agent despite all he's done for them…"

"Okay, I uh, I think I get it," Tom said, cutting the girl off.

"Good because I was running out of reasons." Dessi had a grin on her face. By then Alex had recovered, and was listening in on the conversation with a slightly worried look on his face.

"Do you think that means they'll want me for more missions now?" Alex asked.

Desiree frowned at him thoughtfully for a while, as if deciding her answer.

"Well, it could just be that they don't know how to apologise for the trouble they've caused you," she started, "But then again, maybe they're expecting you to join once you graduate. There's still time for you to back out," she added hastily, "You know too much as it is, and they can't exactly threaten you anymore."

"They can't?"

"No. Not unless they want you to spill the beans about what they've put you through."

"I'm just going to take your word on that," Alex said. It appeared that he didn't really believe her, and Dessi thought that perhaps he had good reason not to. But then again, he didn't know everything she knew about MI6. They _definitely_ didn't want the boy as their enemy.

"So…are we still up for the movies tomorrow?" Tom asked, deciding that it was time for a subject change. Alex's expression changed from worried to depressed in the space of two seconds.

"We have to don't we?" He said glumly, "I sort of promised. You guys don't have to go if you don't want to though."

"Oh, no. We already said we'd go, didn't we," Tom said, "And we're not leaving you alone with that ghastly girl. Who knows what she'll do when she finds out we're not there to protect you."

"Don't worry Alex," Dessi said with a soft smile, "We'll keep you company and protect you from that, ah, 'ghastly girl'."

Alex grinned. Tomorrow night was looking slightly better.

"Thanks guys. I didn't really want to be stuck alone with Cindy."

"We know," Tom said cheerfully, "Now back to 'Ghosts' and its feminist issues!"

Dessi groaned. She was starting to hate homework.

* * *

_Hey all! Just thought I'd say that I actually have studied 'Ghosts' by Henrik Ibsen, so everything I said about the play is true, and I wasn't making anything up. Don't worry, I know what I'm talking about!_

_Now, how did you like the chapter? Was it good? Bad? I promise there'll be more action in the next chapter…I know this was a bit boring. But even so, __**please REVIEW!!!**_

_**IMPORTANT NOTE**: I'm doing a poll on my web page thing about whether or not it should be Dessi/Alex or Dessi/Tom. Make sure you guys vote, or just tell me in a **review**!!!xox_

_Much appreciated! See how I updated **twice** today? It's all for you guys!_

_Love Chariots99_


	6. Alvin and the Chipmunks

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan)._

_**IMPORTANT NOTE:**__ Yep, you all guessed it…The poll's still going on. I'm keeping a tally of how many people want Alex/Dessi and how many want Tom/Dessi, and I have to say that Alex/Dessi is winning by a considerable amount. Anyways, if you don't like Alex/Dessi, don't forget to tell me, and if you do like Alex/Dessi, also tell me! You can do it in a review, since then you can tell me awesome reasoning too! Thanks for all you guys input! _

**Chapter 6**

Saturday passed way too quickly for Alex's liking, and the time to go to the cinemas with Cindy loomed closer and closer. In the morning the entire household was woken up by Jake and Desiree, again, at 5:35, again. Needless to say, everyone, especially certain MI6 agents, were extremely annoyed with them. Again.

It'll take them a while to break the habit, though Alex wasn't sure if they were even _trying_ to break the habit. After all, when they returned to Australia they'd still have to wake up that early for their morning run around the AIS headquarters.

The three spent the morning locked in Alex's room to avoid pissed off MI6 agents. They did the rest of their homework, then just hung around, telling stories (that weren't classified) until it was time for lunch. Jake and Dessi were pretty much ignored by Daniels and Crawley, and the two in turn ignored them. Thus Jack, Tom and Alex spent another meal in an awkward silence.

After that, Alex and Tom took Dessi outside to play in the snow, something the girl hadn't done in ages. She'd never been in a place with enough snow to have a snowball fight, so that was what the two boys decided to do. It turned out that Desiree has freakishly good aiming, and soon Alex and Tom were running for their lives, being pelted with snowballs from the girl that hit their mark _every single bloody time_.

All too soon they'd been called inside for dinner. Even faster was the time in which they actually finished dinner. Before they knew it, they were being dropped off at the cinemas. Ben and Jake hung around, keeping the kids in their view. They planned to tail the three into the movies.

"Alex!" Cindy shrieked when they entered the cinemas. She bounded over from a group of her cheerleading friends and threw her arms around Alex, pulling the boy into a hug. The poor boy didn't know what to do, and looked over to Dessi and Tom for help. Unfortunately for him, the two had dissolved into fits at the sight of the teenage spy, who faced madmen bent on blowing up the planet on an almost daily basis, completely out of his depth with the obsessive cheerleader. Alex huffed at them.

"Come one Alex! I want you to meet my friends!" Cindy exclaimed when she finally let go of the boy. Reaching out, she grabbed Alex's hand and proceeded to drag him over to her friends, all of whom were fellow cheerleaders. Alex grabbed Tom's collar as he was dragged pass his friend. Tom reached out to grab Dessi's wrist. So the three reached Cindy's friends in the most undignified manner possible.

Desiree shook herself out of Tom's reach with a slight scowl, before proceeding to glare at each of Cindy's friends, taking in every detail to make sure they weren't threats. Cindy's friends began to fidget, uncomfortable with the glare the Aussie girl was giving them Alex shook his head slightly when he saw the source of their distress. He _really_ needed to teach that girl how _not_ to annoy others.

Alex tuned back into Cindy's introductions in time to hear her say, "…And we also took the liberty of getting you and your, ah, _companions,_ their tickets. No need to pay us back, my dad knows the people here and we get these free anyway. So here," she said, thrusting the tickets towards Alex.

The teenage spy turned to give the tickets to Tom and Desiree. The girl glanced at the title of the movie and raised her eyebrows slightly, though she didn't make a comment. Tom, however, did.

"Alvin and the Chipmunks; the Squekuel?" He asked, "Who in the world picked this movie?"

"I did," Cindy said coolly, "We're all here just to hang out so no need to see something too…involved."

"Right…" Tom trailed off, mentally questioning Cindy's sense of logic. Although, if the girl really _did_ get her tickets free, then she would probably have already watched the cooler movies.

There was a very awkward silence after that. After all, the two groups didn't usually talk, as the cheerleaders didn't have anything to do with anyone, unless it was about a routine they were performing at a football match.

"So, when do we go in?" Alex asked Cindy, just to break the silence.

"Oh, anytime we want! We were just wondering if you guys wanted any popcorn or drinks or anything, but if not, um, we can go in now if you-"

"GET DOWN!" Dessi shouted, throwing herself sideways and tackling Tom to the ground. Alex's long nurtured instincts caused him to duck, while Cindy and the rest of her friends just started screaming like mad. Luckily for them, they weren't the intended target or they'd be dead.

Bullets flew past where Tom had been just moments ago. Alex lifted his head to see Dessi already scrambling to her feet, trying to find the source of danger. Ben and Jacob came running in, guns held up as Cindy and her cheerleaders, along with every other person in the cinema, ran screaming away from Jake and Ben.

If it weren't for the fact that someone was trying to kill his best friend, Alex would have taken a moment to smack himself in the forehead at the other people's stupidity. As it was, he allowed himself to roll his eyes before scrambling over to his friend.

"Come on," he grunted, grabbing Tom and dragging him over to hide behind the wall. Before they could make it there, however, a burst of gunfire cut them off and forced them to fling themselves backwards to the ground to avoid the hail of bullets. Abruptly the bullets stopped, though more gunfire could be heard. Confused, Alex raised his head off the ground and glanced behind him in the direction of the sustained gunshots.

Desiree, Jake and Ben had hidden themselves behind a large potted fake tree. In her hand, Dessi held what Alex recognised to be Ben's spare pistol. The three of them were firing in the direction of where the previous hail of bullets came from. Between them was a small pile of magazines. Even as Alex saw them, Ben reached down grabbed a magazine, and expertly reloaded his gun, his eyes never leaving the threat. Dessi and Jake kept firing. The girl's aiming had become so precise that the Scorpia assassins couldn't even _peek_ out of their hiding spot for fear of ending up with a bullet in their head.

Ben finished reloading and rejoined the gunfight. Dessi glanced at Alex, who was still on the ground staring at her, and shot him a look that clearly said "get Tom OUT!" Alex scrambled to his feet again and grabbed his friend; the two of them got behind the wall just as all sounds of gunshots ceased from both sides. Looking out, Alex saw that Ben, Jake and Dessi were out of mags, and from the sound of it, the other shooters were out too.

Footsteps alerted Alex to the oncoming assassins. The teenage spy braced himself, shoving Tom further down the corridor they now hid in, and prepared to tackle the first person to turn the corner and face them.

They never got to Alex, however.

The moment Jake, Dessi and Ben heard the oncoming footsteps, they'd thrown themselves towards Alex and Toms' hiding spot to intercept the Scorpia assassins. Now they were engaged in a deadly fight, three against seven. And those already bad odds were worsened by the fact that they were dealing with fully trained Scorpia assassins. Joy.

Alex dived for the man who was attempting to sneak up on the distracted Desiree. The girl turned in time to see Alex wrestling the man to the ground. Dessi spun again and ducked to avoid the punch that had been aimed at her head. She darted forwards and swiftly threw all her weight behind a punch which she aimed squarely at the pressure point in the man's neck. Swearing slightly, the man staggered back in pain, and Dessi darted out of range of his flailing fists. Glancing around, she spotted two things simultaneously; the empty gun she'd discarded on the ground, and an unoccupied assassin sneaking towards the corridor where Tom was hidden.

Dessi lunged for the gun and raced for the assassin. Nimbly she darted in, holding onto the barrel of the empty gun, and raised her arm. The assassin never saw the gun come into contact with his head. He never heard the sickening crunch that reverberated through the corridor, and never felt the fiery pain. He just blacked out and crumpled to the floor.

Desiree glanced at Tom, who was staring from the girl to the unconscious assassin and back again with an open expression of surprise. Dessi tossed him the empty gun, hoping to God that the teen knew how to use it, and darted back into the fight to engage with one of the three Scorpia assassins that surrounded Ben.

It's at times like these that Agent Ben Daniels was truly grateful for the training he'd received when he'd been with the SAS. Without it, he shuddered to think what state he would be in when two of the Scorpia assassins decided to take him down. If that wasn't bad enough, a third man joined them, though he seemed to be in pain and didn't have full use of his right arm. Ben didn't know that this guy had already been incapacitated by Desiree moments before. Ben ducked, blocked and dodged, doing his best to stop the flurry of movements. He took some of the punches that would only leave a bruise. A sudden movement caused Ben to spin; raising his arms to block what he thought was an oncoming attack. Instead he saw flying blonde hair as Desiree tackled one of the men Ben was fighting to the ground.

As Ben turned back to the other two assassins, he couldn't help but think _why did you have to get the injured one, Dessi?_

Jake had taken two of the assassins head on. He managed to hold his own against them, and now he saw an opening which the tired assassin on his left produced. Jake struck, catching the man right in the nerve on his neck. The man dropped like a stone, unconscious, and Jake pivoted away to avoid the blow which his other opponent dealt out.

Alex was pinned to the ground in an iron grip. For a while after he tackled the man, he'd had the upper hand. Now the Scorpia agent was on top of him, hitting him with punch after punch while the boy desperately tried to free his hands, both of which were being held by one of the assassins. Damn that guy was strong.

There was a loud echoing crunch that sounded like someone had just been hit in the head with a pistol. The assassin's attention wavered slightly, and for a split second his vice-like grip on Alex's arms loosened. That second was all Alex needed. With a jerk, the teenage spy pulled free of the man and pushed him away with his legs. Jumping to his feet, he proceeded to knock the man out using a series of blows that was actually a combination of thinks he'd learnt from his late uncle, from Scorpia and from the AIS.

The Scorpia assassin didn't stand a chance against the teenage spy. He was able to deflect the blows which originated form Scorpia, but after that he was completely at the mercy of the _very_ badly bruised teenage spy. Alex proceeded to knock the man out, wincing slightly as all his carious bruises and cuts made themselves known. There was a salty taste on his lip. Alex raised a hand to wipe at it, and found a trail of blood. Apparently the boy had bitten through his lip in pain.

Alex looked around for Jake, Ben and Desiree, and found the three still engaged in separate fights. Rather than going over to help Ben, who was still defending himself against two attackers, Alex made his way to the corridor to check on Tom, and found the boy kneeling at the head of an unconscious assassin, holding an empty pistol. Slightly shocked, Alex glanced questioningly at Tom, who shook his head and pointed in the direction of Desiree. Alex nodded, before grabbing the unconscious body out of the corridor.

Desiree shoved her already injured opponent as far as she could. The man staggered back before tripping over the edge of the now dirtied cinema rug. Spinning, Dessi ran back to Ben, tripping up one of his opponents before grabbing the MI6 agent and quickly dragging him away. The three Scorpia agents fell back slightly to regroup, just as Dessi arrived back in the corridor with Ben in tow. Jake looked up and saw them congregating at the corridor. The AIS agent lashed out, pushing the assassin far away, before darting towards the corridor. The assassin turned and scrambled to where the rest of his cohorts were convening.

Glancing around, Dessi saw Alex depositing the unconscious man near the potted trees, and frantically waved him over before looking down at her silver bracelet. Her fingers trailed along each charm, uncertain. Dessi made a snap decision and grabbed one of the charms, wrenching it off her bracelet.

_Ten seconds…_

Alex saw her throw the charm just as he reached them. He saw the water droplet flying through the air, and yelled at them to run. The five of them turned and sprinted down the corridor which would lead to the emergency exit.

_Five seconds…_

_Four…_

_Three…_

_Two…_

_One._

The remaining Scorpia assassins didn't know what was happening. One moment the air was clear and they could see the retreating backs of their target and his protectors, and the next the air was suddenly filled with a sweet smelling white gas. The four of them could feel their eyelids drooping. They blacked out before they hit the ground.

Alex led the way out into the chilly night. With the exception of Tom, the others all looked a lot worse than they did when they entered the cinema. In many places their clothes had torn. They all had bruises, and a couple of cuts. They were slightly fortunate in the fact that due to the cold, they had to wear thicker clothes, which probably prevented them from suffering any major injuries. Even with the adrenaline still masking most of their pain, they could all still feel the dull throb in places where they knew there would be bruises.

Many of the customers who had been in the cinema before the fighting started had already driven home. There was, however, still a large crowd gathered outside. With his eyes refusing to focus properly, it took a while for Alex to realise that most of the crowd were made up of MI6 agents. The only people who weren't was a small group of girls. At their head was-

"Cindy," Alex groaned through his pain as the head cheerleader spotted him and started running towards him, pushing Desire aside to get there.

"Alex!" She shrieked, throwing herself onto Alex. Desiree stumbled from Cindy's push, and would have fallen had Tom not caught and steadied the tired girl.

"Er…hi," Alex said, trying to extract himself from Cindy's bone crushing hug as the other MI6 agents began moving towards them.

"Oh Alex! I was so worried! Are you alright?" Alex thanked God when Cindy _finally_ let him go. He had a feeling that the hug had given him more bruises than the fight. That's irony for you.

"Mr Rider, Mr Harris, Miss Harwood, Agent Wood, Agent Daniels," a familiar voice interrupted before Alex had to answer Cindy. Looking around, he spotted a very familiar MI6 agent walking towards them, several surgical tapes stuck across his nose.

"Agent Banks!" Alex and Tom exclaimed at the same time.

"I need the five of you to come with me," Banks said with a slight smile for the two boys, "You," he added, looking at Cindy, "You may leave now."

Cindy shook her head and linked her arm through Alex's as the boy winced. "I'm not leaving him," she said.

"With all due respect," Banks said, hiding his annoyance, "That wasn't a suggestion." Alex had complained about Cindy Rills before Banks had his nose broken, so the agent knew full well who the girl was.

Cindy scowled at him before turning to Alex and quickly kissing him on the cheek, ignoring the boy's flinch. "Happy birthday for tomorrow," she whispered into his ear, before leaving to meet up with her friends. As she went past, she purposely shoved into Desiree again, hitting the girl right in one of her more painful bruises. Dessi stepped back, barely muffling a whimper of pain, before sending a death glare at the girl's retreating back.

"Dessi? Are you alright?" Tom asked as Alex started towards her with a worried look on his face. Jake merely glared at the cheerleader as she left with her friends.

"Yea," she said, massaging her arm and giving the two boys a smile.

"Come on you lot," Banks said, dropping his professional front the minute Cindy had left, "Let's get you all home. Jack's going crazy, and I don't think that Agent Crawley can handle her for much longer."

Ben, Alex and Tom snuffed a laugh as Dessi looked on, worried. The girl knew about Alex's housekeeper's temper, having read it in her file, but had not yet seen Jack's infamous temper in person. She wasn't sure if she wanted to.

"Hope she calms own before we get back," Tom said.

Alex looked at his friend. Then he looked at Ben, who had definitely come off worse in the fight having been forced to face off against three assassins, and now sported an array of cuts and bruises. Then at Jake, whose bruises were starting to heavily show, despite the scarcity of light. He then looked across at Desiree, who had the beginnings of a black eye. Then he examined himself, his bruises, his swelling cheek and his tattered clothes.

"I don't think that'll happen anytime soon," he said to Tom.

* * *

_And that's another chapter done!_

_Can I just say that Cindy Rills isn't meant to be evil or anything. She's just a really spoilt only child who is used to getting her way and is very jealous of Dessi because she knows that Alex likes Dessi way better than Cindy. _

_**IMPORTANT NOTE:**__ Yep, you all guessed it…The poll's still going on. I'm keeping a tally of how many people want Alex/Dessi and how many want Tom/Dessi, and I have to say that Alex/Dessi is winning by a considerable amount. Anyways, if you don't like Alex/Dessi, don't forget to tell me, and if you do like Alex/Dessi, also tell me! You can do it in a review, since then you can tell me awesome reasoning too! Thanks for all you guys input! _

_Anyways, like it? Hate it? Please tell me in a __**review**__!!!_

_Remember, if you want something to happen, also please tell me!_

_Love Chariots99_


	7. Happy Birthday Alex

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan)._

**Chapter 7**

It was Sunday morning. Alex's sixteenth birthday. Except for Jack and the birthday boy, no-one else was up yet. Alex still lay in bed, while Jack was downstairs preparing breakfast. For once, it hadn't been Desiree or Jake that woke the teenage spy.

When they'd returned home the previous night, it was to find Jack frantic with worry. Her shouting could be heard from outside the house, and when they entered they found Jack pacing around and yelling about how irresponsible MI6 were. They also found a cowering Agent Crawley, who all but bolted out the house when informed by Banks that he was no longer needed.

Jack had then ordered them to sit in the living room, and had gone to the kitchen only to return with glasses of hot chocolate. She'd then drawn the Australians upstairs before they could even touch their drinks, because she wanted to know if they had gotten Alex anything for his birthday.

Alex sighed and rolled over, glancing at his clock. It read 7:42. He groaned slightly. All the bruises he'd obtained last night now screamed at him. He'd also managed to strain some of his muscles, having not had a chance to warm up. Now they were also screaming at him in pain.

Soft footsteps approached his door, and a moment later it was quietly opened then closed, Tom now standing in the room with a wrapped box in his hand. He looked at his best friend and threw him his present.

"Happy sixteenth mate," he said, before sitting down on Alex's bed.

"Thanks," Alex said, putting the present to one side as he sat up. "What are you doing here?"

Tom glanced at him and sighed slightly.

"You know when we slipped those sleeping pills into Desiree and Jake's hot chocolate?" He began. Last night when Jack had dragged the Australians off to question them about Alex's gift, Tom, Alex, Ben and Andrew Banks had slipped into both of their hot chocolates a couple of sleeping tables, which had promptly dissolved in the drink. They didn't want the two waking them up at 5:35 again, especially not on a Sunday, _and_ Alex's birthday to boot.

"Yea, what about them?" Alex asked.

"Well, I think we over killed on that one," Tom said, "I went into Jake's room and he's just stirring. But I went into Dessi's room and I couldn't wake her up at all. I mean, if it weren't for the fact that I could actually _see_ her breathing, I'd have thought she was dead or something."

Alex stared at his friend for five full seconds before blinking and muttering "crap" under his breath. He got out of bed, not even bothering to change, and crept out of his room, Tom on his heels. Together they crept down the hall towards the room Dessi was sleeping in.

Alex slowly opened her door and went inside, Tom choosing to stay out by the door. The room was dark, the curtains were still drawn. There was a lump on the bed that roughly resembled Dessi's form, though it wasn't moving. Slightly panicked, Alex moved towards the bed.

"Dessi?" He murmured softly, reaching out to put his hand on where he assumed the girl's shoulder was.

His hand never made contact.

At that moment, a large sheet fell onto his head and around his body, shutting out the dim lights and plunging him into darkness. Surprised, he let out a shout.

Across the hall someone, probably Ben, fell out of his bed surprised by the loud shout. Alex could hear muffled laughter coming from the general direction of the door. As the boy struggled to throw the sheet off him, he could feel hands tying the ends together, swiftly trapping him inside.

"And that's for drugging my drink!" a voice exclaimed exuberantly from somewhere above him.

"Dessi?" Alex said, stopping his struggling. "What? How did you know about the drug?" Alex sat down on the bed with a huff, fighting to remain upright when he sat on the edge of the sheet and it threatened to pull him down.

"Tom told me," her voice sounded very close to his ear. Under the sheets, Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Did he, now…? Did Tom also happen to mention to you that it was his idea in the first place?" Alex asked. There was a pause, and the muffled laughter he'd previously heard by the door stopped suddenly.

"No…He didn't," Dessi said softly, glaring at Tom.

Suddenly Alex felt the pillow which he was sitting on yanked out from beneath him. Tom gave a short yell, before dashing off, chased by Desiree who was now armed with a pillow.

Alex could hear the girl chase his friend around, hitting him repeatedly with the pillow which the boy begged for mercy. The teenage spy also heard the other MI6 agents yelling at them to stop, and Jack calling them from downstairs to inform them that breakfast was ready. Alex had to struggle quite a bit to be free of the sheet; the girl had tied some extremely complicated knot _extremely_ tightly around his stomach.

Just as he freed himself, Tom charged into the room, diving under the bed which Alex was sitting on. Close behind Tom, Dessi entered, holding her pillow at the ready. Alex saw that the girl was already changed, wearing jeans and a long sleeved shirt. The heating in the house was on so there was no need for a jumper.

"To-om," Desiree called in a sing-song voice, "I know you're under my bed!"

"No I'm not," Tom's muffled voice came from under the bed and Dessi grinned in triumph. Alex got off the bed, sensing a chance for revenge, and crept under it so that he was behind Tom. The boy didn't notice; he had his full undivided attention fixed in the direction of the door where he knew Desiree still stood.

Alex crawled up to his friend and whispered a soft but sharp "Boo."

Tom yelled in shock and shot out from under the bed, where Dessi was waiting. The girl grinned and began to repeatedly hit him with her pillow.

"DESIREE ANNE SWAN!!! COME HERE THIS INSTANT!" Jake suddenly yelled from the door. Dessi hit Tom one last time before throwing the pillow at Alex who was just emerging from under the bed.

Jake grabbed the girl when she reached him, and dragged her into his room, slamming the door loudly behind them. Even with the door closed, the entire household could hear Jake's muffled shouting, berating the girl for waking everyone up.

Tom and Alex looked at each other.

"I think we got her into trouble," Tom whispered.

"…_and we do _not_ hit others with pillows! I know that boy can get annoying, but I expected better of you!…"_

"Yep, we definitely got her into trouble."

"We are _so_ dead," Alex sighed, getting up off the floor to which he'd been frozen to.

"Where are you going?" Tom asked, scrambling to his feet.

Alex raised an eyebrow." Er…to get changed," he said, gesturing to his pyjamas.

"Oh," Tom said, and in the dim lighting of the room, Alex could see that his expression was a mixture of relief and disappointment, "I thought you were going to break those two up."

Alex snorted as Jake's shouting echoed in the background. "Mate, I'm not _that_ suicidal. Besides, it's my birthday, and I'd rather _not_ be killed today thanks all the same."

"He can't be that bad can he?" Tom asked, tailing Alex out of the room.

"Well, that depends. Do you see Ben trying to stop him?" Alex asked. Tom turned to see Ben poking his head out of his room, a slightly worried expression on his face. However the man didn't get out to stop the fight.

"No," Tom said.

"That would be because he's _met_ Jake."

As Tom watched, Andrew Banks came out of his room, clearly deciding that Jake had been shouting for long enough. Alex hissed a warning under his breath, just as Banks opened the door. Immediately, the AIS unit one leader's anger was turned towards the MI6 agent. After about five seconds in which Banks stared at the man, stunned, he came to his senses and quickly shut the door, bolting downstairs to the relative safety of the kitchen.

"And that's why," Alex said, before closing his door for some privacy.

After he got changed, Alex and Tom made their way downstairs for breakfast. They were joined by Ben, who informed the teenage spy that he'd put his present on the boy's bed. Alex grinned happily. With all the extra people in their house, he was getting more presents than he normally would.

When Desiree finally emerged from Jake's room, she was extremely disgruntled. Alex and Ben glanced at her with expressions of sympathy, Tom with an expression of shock. He'd never heard _anyone_ shout for so long, not even his parents. Banks was extremely quiet, and didn't say a word. Jack put a plate of her famous scrambled eggs in front of the girl, who merely picked at it with a scowl on her face. The bruises she'd received had developed into a full black eye overnight, something that probably didn't help the girl's mood.

Jake came down some time after, and he was immediately thrown a death glare from Jack, who empathised better with Dessi due to her acquaintance with Alex. Jake ignored the American, sitting down beside Ben and quietly eating his slightly-and deliberately-burnt breakfast.

Alex glanced around the table. The air was filled with extreme tension as the two AIS agents refused to even look at each other. Tom glanced at Alex, and an unspoken message passed between the two friends.

"Jack, can we be excused?" Alex asked, standing.

"Sure," Jack smiled, "Oh, and happy birthday Alex. I'll bring you your present after I've done the dishes."

"Okay, thanks." Alex almost dragged Desiree up the stairs to his room, Tom following close behind. The three of them sat down on Alex's bed, Dessi with a small sigh, and lapsed into silence. Tom bit his lip before deciding to break it.

"Dessi?" He said, and the girl turned to him with her crystal blue eyes, "Sorry about the whole sleeping pills thing. We just didn't want you to wake us up again."

Dessi smiled. "Don't worry," she said, "I needed a good night's sleep anyway."

Alex thought for a moment before asking, "How come the pills didn't have a huge affect on you? They're meant to knock you out for a good ten hours, and you were awake at, well, before seven forty-two."

Dessi grinned mischievously. "I could taste the pills in the hot chocolate," she said, and Alex and Tom traded a grimacing look, "So I wasn't about to drink the entire thing."

"That explains so much," Tom said.

"Oh, and by the way Alex," Dessi added, "Happy birthday."

Alex grinned. "Thanks."

* * *

Alex felt that his sixteenth birthday came with the best haul of presents than all his other birthdays put together. Jack had got him the World of Warcraft game, along with an _extremely_ glittery birthday card. Tom had merely given his friend money, since Alex went with him everywhere to prevent any attacks, the boy hadn't been able to get his friend a present and keep it a surprise. Ben and Andrew had pitched in together and gotten the boy a new phone, touch screened with an emergency button installed that would alert the MI6 of danger should he press it, along with another button that would instantly connect him with Mrs Jones.

Smithers too had sent along a present, a Swiss army knife with more contraptions added to the usual knife; there was a miniature dart which contained a liquid so potent that the person injected would not wake until at least twenty-four hours later, small but powerful explosives capable of blowing up entire walls, and a couple of white tablets which Desiree had identified as suicide tablets that would cause death within five seconds of swallowing them. The gadget expert had also sent along a card, which had exploded after a minute of opening, much to the amusement of Tom and Dessi.

Even K-unit had pitched in with a group present, an eight gigabyte iPod touch. Apparently they hadn't like Alex's old iPod. Along with the [really badly] wrapped iPod was a slightly dirtied card, signed by Wolf, Snake, Eagle and Shark (Ben's replacement).

Last but not least were the two AIS agents. They'd both gotten their presents for him in Australia. Jake had gotten the boy a boomerang, an Aboriginal artefact that returned to the owner after it was thrown. The boomerang came with strict instructions _not_ to throw indoors for fear of a rather painful death which Jake himself would inflict, birthday boy or no.

Desiree had gotten Alex a rather peculiar present which she insisted that he told no-one about. She'd also made him open it away from the others, especially Jake. The two went to Alex's room to open the present. The boy didn't even bother to open the curtains as he sat on the floor, wanting to find out what the 'secret present' was. This resulted in the two spies having to squint slightly in the dim lighting of the room to see properly.

Dessi's present was about the length of a USB, though a lot thicker, with a coat of deep blue paint that softly shimmered in the light. The object had three distinct layers that could be rotated in or out. Once the top layer was rotated out, there was a small sliding hook which released a long and thin tube. The tube was to be inserted into a lock, where it sprayed out white foam which then effectively blew the lock apart, thus opening any lock without the need to pick it. The middle layer was a fingerprint sensitive thumb drive. Dessi programmed it so that it would only accept Alex's fingerprints; any other foreign fingerprints would cause the USB to self-destruct. The final layer consisted of twelve miniature but deadly knives that were no bigger than the tip of Alex's pinkie. Nonetheless, they were _sharp_.

"Where did you _get _this from?" Alex asked in a hushed voice as he pulled out one of the knives and accidently cut himself; he didn't even feel the knife cut into his finger, just saw a sudden burst of blood.

Desiree winced slightly at the question. "From…well, out of our Covert Weaponry Storage."

Alex raised an eyebrow as he tried to stop his bleeding by applying pressure. "I take it you didn't get permission to take this then?" He asked. Dessi scowled slightly, grabbing his bleeding hand and a couple of tissues, and pushed down on the cut that way.

"No, I didn't," Dessi said, "And I'd _really_ prefer if you don't tell anyone about it. _Especially_ not Jake, or MI6. Not only will I be in a _lot_ of trouble, you'd get it confiscated, and I had to smuggle it out of AIS security _and _customs."

Alex grinned and pocketed the rather unusual gadget with his uninjured hand. "Don't worry. I won't tell a soul," he promised. Then he looked up into Dessi's crystal blue eyes. For the first time he realised that they were alone in his room; after Dessi said that no-one should see his present, he'd kicked everyone out except for the girl.

Alex's breath hitched slightly in his throat. Dessi was sitting so _close_ to him, her eyes sparkling in the slightly dim room. Her black eye wasn't actually all that visible now, due to the slight absence of light. She was still holding onto his hand, trying to stop the bleeding. Or maybe it had already stopped bleeding. Maybe she was just holding onto his hand.

He never found out. Tom barged loudly into the room and demanded to know what was taking Alex so long, and what the secret present was. Seeing the two in the dim light staring at each other and holding hands didn't even raise any alarm bells in the boy's head.

Alex hastily jerked his hand out of Dessi's and stood, muttering some excuse about needing fresh air before bolting out the room. Tom and Desiree gaped after the boy, bewildered, before Tom turned to Desiree with an expectant expression on his face that she could only just make out in the dim lighting.

"So," Tom said, dropping to the floor, "What did you get him?"

Desiree smiled.

"Classified."

Tom groaned and fell to the floor.

"Why? _Why_ must you always classify every God damned thing as _classified_?" He whined.

The girl pretended to think before breaking out into a grin.

"Classified."

Tom's forehead made contact with his palm. Honestly, spies could be _very_ annoying when they wanted to, especially when they took it upon themselves to 'classify' every bloody thing on the planet.

"So you can't even give me a clue?" He wheedled.

"Well…it took a while to smuggle out of Australia…" Dessi said.

"So it's…illegal?" Tom guessed.

"Um, not exactly."

"Oh, come on! Just tell me!" Tom pleaded, his curiosity peaking.

Desiree smiled at him, but shook her head. "Sorry, can't."

"Why not?"

"Classified."

Tom groaned. "Desiree, you are the most _infuriating_ girl I have _ever_ met! Well, asides from Cindy…"

Dessi laughed. "Yeah, I try," she said.

"Try what?"

Tom and Dessi turned to see Alex at the door, a slightly sheepish expression on his face.

"Alex! Where'd you go?" Tom asked, beckoning for his friend to join them. Alex sat down.

"Oh, just downstairs to get a drink," he said, carefully avoiding Dessi's curious eye. Even he wasn't exactly sure what went over him…

"So, she won't tell me, so will you?" Tom turned to his friend.

"Er, tell you what?" Alex asked, confused.

Tom groaned and smacked the boy on the head. "What your _present_ was!"

Alex grinned, massaging his head.

"Classified," he said.

Desiree burst into laughter as Tom began to beat the floor in frustration. He was seriously getting sick of the word "_classified_".

"If one of you doesn't tell me what it is, I'll…I'll…"

"Stutter at us?" Dessi grinned.

Tom stuck his tongue out at her. "Shut up," he said as the other two burst into laughter. Tom huffed and stood, giving them his best death glare. Unfortunately for him, the two spies had experienced a lot worse from Wolf and Jake, so the glare didn't really do much.

If anything, it made the two laugh even harder.

* * *

There was a loud knock on the door. It had an almost immediate effect on the household. Whereas before they were just sitting at the table, enjoying some peace after lunch, now they were all suddenly tense, alert for danger. Jake and Ben grabbed Jack and almost literally dragged her into the living room where it would be easier to shield her. Dessi and Tom retreated up the stairs slightly, so that they were out of range of any potential bullets but were still able to see what was happening. And Alex and Andrew went to open the door.

"Happy birthday Alex!" An all too familiar voice shrieked.

Suddenly Alex found himself in another bone-crushing hug. He staggered back, and would have fallen had Andrew not reached out to steady the swamped boy.

"C-Cindy! What are you doing?" Alex stuttered, trying in vain to throw the cheerleader off him.

"I came to give you your present, of course!" The girl exclaimed, finally letting Alex go for which the boy was _extremely_ grateful of, "Here!" She handed him a wrapped box, not particularly big, but slightly overdone with ribbons. The entire thing was pink, even the card which was attached to the top of the wrapped present. There was a choked sound behind Alex; apparently Andrew Banks was having slight difficulty not to burst into laughter. Or to vomit.

"Er…thanks," Alex muttered, looking over the present with a slightly horrified expression that Cindy ignored.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow!" And with that the cheerleader flounced away, briefly stopping to wink at the horrified boy before climbing into the waiting car. Alex closed the door, looking as if he was considering throwing the present back at Cindy.

Alex looked at Banks, and saw that the man's face had gone red from suppressed laughter. Muttering under his breath about insane cheerleaders and MI6 agents who were traitors, the teenage spy pushed past Agent Banks to inform everyone else that there was no threat.

Desiree and Tom came down from the stairs to see the rest of the household gathered around the pink present, staring at it in a sort of revolting amusement. They wanted to see what was inside, but at the same time didn't want to know what the cheerleader decided was a present. Judging from the wrapping, the present itself would probably be something _pink_.

"Open it," Tom finally demanded after some time of silence.

Alex looked at his friend with dread before reaching out hesitantly for the present. Jack murmured something under her breath, and everyone else gazed, transfixed, as Alex untied the numerous ribbons which wrapped the present. Taking a deep breath, he ripped open the excessively pink wrapping paper. And froze in horror.

In his hand he held a baby pink stuffed teddy bear, complete with pink sparkles that didn't seem to want to stick to the bear's coat. For a second there was no sound. Then abruptly Tom burst into laughter, which set Dessi off, which in turn set everyone else off. They couldn't stop; every time one of them seemed close, they'd looked at Alex's expression and the bear, and had started again.

Alex got over his shock and scowled at his friends. Then he ditched the pink bear at Tom. It hit the boy in his head and bounced off, leaving the boy with pink glitter that stood out violently from his black hair. That was when Alex joined in with the laughter.

It was some time before they calmed down. In all the recent stress, with Scorpia's threat and last night's attack, they hadn't really had time to just relax and laugh, and pretend that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the world.

"Happy birthday Alex!"

* * *

_And that's Alex's sixteenth birthday! To be honest, I'm not sure whether sixteen year olds enjoy playing WOW…but hey, my guy friends do, so Alex does now._

_Anyways, how did you like that chapter? Was it good? Did it suck? Tell me in a __**review!!!**_

_Thanks to all my anonymous reviewers, 'coz I can't personally thank you since you're anonymous…_

_Love Chariots99_


	8. The Incident

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan)._

**Chapter 8**

The next day saw all three teens back in school. It seemed that Cindy and her gang of cheerleaders had spread, through the very efficient gossip chain present in Brookland, the story of the fight which had broken out on Saturday night at the cinemas. They'd exaggerated the details, since none of them had actually _seen_ the fight first hand. The fight had appeared on Sunday newspapers so many of the students had read about it, but since MI6 had forced the journalists not to mention _any_ of the people involved, they didn't know until Monday that it was Alex, Desiree and Tom against Alex's uncles' enemies. Or so they thought.

As a result, Alex spent the day trying to avoid the flocks of girls who came after him, swooning and asking if he was alright. Desiree, on the other hand, spent the day avoiding the numerous _boys_ who had taken it upon themselves to enquire after her black eye, which stood out painfully against her crystal blue eyes. Since, unlike the girls who would shriek at Alex and thus give him enough time to either run or hide, the boys didn't shriek when they saw Dessi, she had an infinitely harder time avoiding her followers.

In the end, it was left up to Alex and Tom to turn away the persistent boys with death glares or subtle remarks, after the girl had lost her temper and shouted at a boy, who was unfortunate enough to be the eleventh person enquiring after her health, in a tone that would have made Jake proud.

Thankfully though, by the end of the day, the news of their fight had worn off, and thus they hoped that tomorrow they would not have to repeat the experience of fawning girls and persistent boys. The only one who was in high spirits throughout the day was Tom; the boy hadn't exactly been the one doing the fighting, he'd merely been forced to hide.

Tuesday passed without much incident, unless you counted the moment during English class when Tom had leaned over to ask what the other charms on Desiree's bracelet did, and had ended up accidently pulling the flower charm off the bracelet. Alex and Dessi had gone into full fledged panic attacks. After all, ten seconds was not a lot of time to stop an explosive device, and they had no idea how powerful the thing was. In the end, Alex had yelled over the teacher for the class to duck and hide while Desiree hurled both the charm and the chair she had sat on at the window.

The chair had broken through the window, showering the ground outside with glass, and allowing the charm to fly out the window. Before the teacher could yell at Dessi for throwing the chair, the flower charm had exploded in midair, the shock wave destroying the other two windows and overturning desks and chairs as it hit the classroom.

However, the directional explosive had completely disintegrated the chair that had gone with the charm. The teacher had promptly fainted from shock, which was probably a good thing too, for the moment after the explosion had take place both Alex and Desiree had turned on Tom and had started shouting at him.

After about five minutes the SAS guards, with Ben at their head, had rushed into the classroom, guns drawn, to see the two teenage spies still berating Tom about his carelessness while the rest of the class watched with awe. Jake had come in soon after, and had immediately dragged Desiree away to get the full story out of her; the rest of the class had responded merely with excited gibberish.

After that, the AIS unit leader had pulled Alex away from shouting at his friend, and had taken his place, yelling about how Tom could have done Scorpia's job for them and killed them all. By then the rest of the kids had already been evacuated from the classroom, and the unconscious teacher had been carried down to the nurse, so only those who actually knew about Scorpia heard Jake shouting the name.

Ben had called the MI6 to inform them about the incident. Mrs Jones walked into the classroom ten or so minutes after the call, in time to put a stop to Jake's shouting. By that stage, Tom looked almost close to tears. He was, after all, old enough to understand what he'd done, even accidentally, so he didn't really need the line-up of spies shouting at him about how he'd almost killed everyone. He winced slightly when Mrs Jones looked at him, as if he expected her to start yelling too, but she merely gave him a reassuring pat on his shoulder and sent him out of the classroom.

The window was fixed in record time. For a while, the three teens ignored each other. Then Alex and Desiree apologised to Tom for getting mad at him. He in turn apologised to them for touching things he shouldn't. By the time school finished, they were back to being friends, the incident put behind them.

It wasn't until Wednesday that Scorpia made their fifth attempt. Alex, Dessi and Tom had just been dropped off, and were following the stream of students into the school when there was the all too familiar sound of gunshots. The immediate reaction from the teens surrounding the three was screaming. Painfully loud, ear piercing screaming.

"EVERYBODY, GET INSIDE!" Alex roared, and there was a sudden rush once people realised who was shouting orders at them.

Desiree turned when she saw that there was someone lying on the ground, groaning weakly and clutching his leg. Blood flowed freely through his fingers; apparently, he was the one the bullets had hit.

"Alex!"Dessi shouted as she hurried to the boy. He looked to be slightly older than the three of them, with light brown hair and hazel eyes that were currently screwed up in pain. He was also breathing extremely quickly, apparently under the impression it would lessen the pain. Alex shoved Tom towards the school, before running to Desiree and the boy.

"Okay, I need you to stay with me, and concentrate on my voice," Dessi was muttering when Alex arrived, "Try not to think about the pain."

"Hey," Alex whispered softly, startling Dessi a bit, "How did he get hit?"

"By the looks of it, rebound," she answered, pointing to the slight dent in the metal flag pole, "Unlucky coincidence. If he doesn't stop panting he's going to hyperventilate."

Alex bit his lip before kneeling down next to the boy.

"Hi, I'm Alex. I can help you," he said in the most soothing tone he could manage, wincing slightly at how lame his sentence sounded, "I know it hurts, but I really need you to stop breathing so quickly. Can you do that for me?"

Dessi stood and turned at the noise coming from behind. There were three Scorpia agents, dressed in white to disguise in the snowy background. They were currently engaged with a group of SAS soldiers who had been the first to head them off. Sounds of snow crunching made the girl spin again, tensing in case she needed to attack. It was only K-unit, charging towards them. She recognised Wolf, Snake and Eagle from their stay in Australia, but had never met the last man. She knew, however, that his code-name was Shark – it had been in K-unit's file.

"Hey, it's you!" Eagle exclaimed; they hadn't been told that agents from the AIS had been invited to help protect the school, and K-unit hadn't seen Jake yet.

"Yeah, it's me," Dessi said impatiently. Then she turned to Snake, whom she knew was the team medic, "Snake, that kid over there was hit by a rebound bullet to his leg, and he's hyperventilating."

Snake swore and hurried over to the injured boy, Alex hastily getting out of his way. Dessi turned back to K-unit in time to see the questioning look Shark sent Eagle's way.

"Alex! Desiree!" A voice suddenly exclaimed. Both teens, along with K-unit, turned to the front door leading into the school, to see Cindy Rills rapidly beckoning the two teens to the door. Dessi glanced at Alex who shrugged from his position beside the injured kid, and the two made their way to the head cheerleader.

"What is it?" Alex asked.

She didn't need to answer. There was a sudden tinkling as glass smashed after being hit by a bullet. Screams echoed from behind the girl, causing both Alex and Dessi to start. Students rushed out of one of the classrooms, and fled into another.

"Snipers," Dessi deduced, pushing past the cheerleader.

Alex turned to K-unit.

"There're snipers and they're aiming for the classrooms!" He yelled.

The response was almost immediate. Wolf barked an order to Shark, then said something into the radio attached to his collar. Snake and Eagle carried the wounded boy up into the school. Shark hurried off to where the fight with the three Scorpia agents was taking place. They were just finishing up, having already knocked two of them unconscious. Shark himself knocked out the third, before shouting something at them, gesturing up to the roof tops surrounding the school.

Alex ran to catch up to Dessi. The girl was searching for Tom, who was nowhere to be found. Alex saw an all too familiar flash from the window just as she passed a classroom, and he threw himself at the girl, tackling her to the ground as another bullet sailed above their heads.

"Oh…thanks," Dessi gasped.

"No problem," Alex replied, getting off the girl and helping her back up. For a moment, they both looked out the window at where the bullet had come from, then they responded to some unspoken signal and set off again to find Tom, pushing their way through the panicking students and ordering them to stay down.

Outside, the SAS soldiers and MI6 agents had already been ordered up to the roof tops of the buildings surrounding the school to dispose of the snipers. After all these men had done to protect the school, they weren't going to let a couple of flights of stairs come between them and those snipers who were targeting the classrooms.

They burst onto the rooftops almost simultaneously with their guns drawn, shouting at the snipers to, well, drop their snipers. The Scorpia agents stood slowly, turning with perfected balance to look at the circle of guns pointed their way. Then they all moved, with blurring speed, and attacked. It was a suicidal, kamikaze move, but then again, no Scorpia agent wanted to be taken alive if it could be helped.

In the school, Alex and Desiree found Tom and another student huddled in a corner well away from any windows. Their relief was interrupted with simultaneous gunshots that were repeatedly fired by the SAS soldiers and MI6 agents against the Scorpia snipers. The students put their hands over their ears, shutting out the noise and dropping to the floor.

Alex and Dessi glanced at each other grimly. They knew, from the sound of the sustained gunfire, that no Scorpia agent would be walking out alive.

* * *

"That's attack number five," Mrs Jones said, passing the file which contained the day's events over to Mr Blunt, "I must say that Scorpia are losing a lot of good agents to this 'revenge'. We now have thirteen of their people in our custody."

Mr Blunt nodded, his eyes skimming over the report. On the bright side, Rider hadn't been involved with any of the fights which had taken place that day. On the down side…

"They've graduated to attacking the entire school at random?" Blunt asked. The boy who'd been hit by the rebound bullet, Pete Brookes, had been taken to St. Dominic's so that the bullet could be removed.

"It does appear that way," Jones replied, "At least no other children were injured. Or killed."

"Yes…"Blunt trailed off. It just wasn't like Scorpia to just attack an entire school without targeting specific people. Their now dead snipers hadn't even attempted to aim for Harris, the boy who had been the target of their previous four attacks.

"Something's not right about this," Blunt said after a minute or so of silence.

"I'd have to agree."

Blunt nodded slowly as he kept reading the report.

…_The confrontation was executed to perfection. No lives were lost, although three agents and two soldiers were injured when the assassins attempted a kamikaze style attack. In total, six snipers were retrieved from atop the buildings. However only five bodies could be accounted for after the confrontation…_

"How can they find six snipers but only five bodies?" Blunt asked, lowering the report onto his table, "They must've let one escape. That one must've been looking for information regarding something, perhaps another student at the school. The others were only there for distraction. But, why? What could they possibly be searching for through _snipers_?"

Mrs Jones stared at her boss without a word. Honestly, no-one would've come up with the conclusion he just did. Perhaps that was why Blunt wasn't fired after the whole fiasco with Damian Cray. Because Blunt was the only one who could possibly look at something unexpected which the enemy did, and come up with alternative explanations.

"What do snipers have?" Now Blunt was just thinking out loud. Mrs Jones supposed that that was probably a good thing; she didn't like it when her boss jumped to conclusions, so he'd fallen into the habit of thinking out loud when she was there so they could both follow his though pattern, "What do snipers have that other weapons don't? What could they achieve with snipers that they couldn't achieve with sending in…Snipers have scopes. They could easily identify targets. But not _once_ did they aim for or at Mr Harris…"

"So they were looking for someone else," Mrs Jones surmised.

"Yes…the problem now is, who?"

* * *

"Are you sure it was her?" A low voice asked.

"Positive," a slightly higher but still manly voice answered.

"Hm…I thought Ivan Stalin would have been able to manage the job. Apparently I was wrong," the first man said, drumming his fingers lightly on the table, "We now need to deal with the _both_ of them, though I must say, they have made this so much easier by being constantly together."

They were in a small but brightly lit room. The walls were painted a bright sunny yellow, the roof a slightly lighter shade of cream. The room, though extremely small, was one of the most secure rooms in the building, asides from the windowless cells which it neighbours. This room was scanned almost on a daily basis for bugs. Its walls were thick and sound proof, the ceiling reinforced so that it would take an extremely powerful explosive to break it apart.

There was an empty table and three chairs in the room. Currently, two chairs were occupied. It was very rarely that there were ever three people in the rather cramped room at the same time – that had only ever happened once before when they'd played host to a very important hostage.

The man who'd spoken first had been the appointed leader in the operation. His name was William Smith, American born and an agent with the CIA for years before he'd been fired and had moved to England. The man had been fired due to his 'overuse of excessive force during interrogation'. In other words, torture leading to permanent physical and mental damage.

The man who was currently reporting to him had no name. Well, he did have one once, but had long since let it go as something else which belonged in his past life. Now, his fellows and superiors merely referred to him as Scope, due to his legendary ability to never miss any targets with his sniper scope.

Both men worked for the ruthless organisation known as Scorpia.

It was very rarely that such an efficient organisation is ever bested. A little more than a year ago, it had been bested _twice_ by a teenage boy. A boy, not even fourteen, had defeated two of their plans! What made it infinitely worse, was that a couple of months later, they'd been outdone _again_ by another teenager. This time, a blonde girl, who'd been stupid enough to let herself be caught on their surveillance camera. Of course Scorpia had retaliated against both. But apparently that hadn't worked. Now, with both teens in the same place, they could kill two birds with one stone and get their revenge.

"I believe it's time we pay another visit to the Rider household," William said.

After all, Scorpia never forgives, Scorpia never forgets.

* * *

_The suspense! Well, Scorpia just made their first ever appearance (I think)…_

_So, how did you like this chapter? Please do __**review**__, it makes my day so happy!_

_Remember, __**anonymous reviews**__ are accepted; I just won't be able to personally give you a reply._

_Love Chariots99_


	9. Kidnap

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan)._

**Chapter 9**

Jack had been almost hysterical when Alex, Desiree, Tom, Ben and Jake arrived back at the Rider household. Banks had already informed the housekeeper of what had occurred, then had kept Jack under his 'supervision' until the others returned, just in case Scorpia tried something with her. Basically, that meant that she was stuck upstairs in the man's bedroom for the morning, a bad experience for the both of them. School had been cancelled for the rest of the day – maybe even for the rest of the week. The numerous bullets which had hit the school had caused massive property damage, which the MI6 had promised to fix. The only miracle was that no one, besides the boy hit by a rebound bullet, had been injured.

"It's too…I don't know, but it just doesn't feel right," Alex said. The three teens were congregating in his room, "This is _Scorpia_ we're talking about. They train their agents so that they don't miss! I don't know _how_ the only injury was from some guy hit by a rebound!"

"I know, it makes no sense," Desiree said calmly. That was the curious thing about the girl; even after all the panic and chaos, she still managed to remain calm.

"So, what are you trying to get at?" Tom asked. The boy didn't know exactly how ruthless and calculated Scorpia was; after all, the closest he's ever been to them is when they're trying to kidnap him. Not exactly the time they show off all their skill.

Alex and Desiree glanced at each other.

"Well…" Dessi began.

"Scorpia, they plan everything," Alex continued, "Every time they have a, a 'project', they plan each and every stage. They also, well, they can aim. They could probably be able to shoot you through the heart while they were blindfolded and you were running around like a headless chook."

"So…" Tom trailed off, but he thought he could see where they were going.

"So, if no-one was hit today, not counting that kid and the rebound, we have to assume that Scorpia didn't want to hit anyone," Dessi said, "Which means that they had another purpose for the shootout today."

At that moment Ben appeared at the doorway, and gestured for Alex to go downstairs. Mrs Jones had decided to call. Dessi and Tom followed Alex down the stairs, where Alex broke off from them to answer the phone. The two then followed Ben into the living room where the adults were discussing the attack, but before Desiree could sit down, Jake had gotten up and dragged the girl back out.

"Hey, Jake! What are you-"

Jake put a hand over the girl's mouth until she stopped trying to talk. Then he began talking in a very low voice, glancing around to make sure that no-one came out and overheard.

"You know that Scorpia has put a price on your head, right?" He whispered.

"Yes."

Jake nodded. "You were almost hit by a bullet today," he continued.

"Yea, so?" Dessi asked, not entirely sure where her field partner was going.

"Well…" he paused, "Well, what if they found out that you weren't dead? What if…what if-"

"What if they were scouting for me today?" Dessi finished.

"Yeah."

They stared at each other for a moment. After the whole incident with the Scorpia assassin last year, the AIS had set about making it look like the assassin had succeeded. Apparently though, that hadn't worked.

"Dessi?" Alex suddenly appeared beside them, gesturing in the general direction of the phone, "Mrs Jones wants to talk to you."

Desiree glanced at Jake, then left for the phone while Jake and Alex returned to the living room where the others were.

"Hello?" Dessi said into the mouthpiece of the phone.

"_Ah, Desiree Swan,"_ Mrs Jones's voice came through, "_I'm merely calling to inform you about the situation which occurred earlier today at the school."_

"Mrs Jones, I was there so you don't really need to tell me what happened."

"_Yes, I'm well aware of that. However, I would like to make you aware of another fact. We have debriefed every student in the school who claims that they were shot at, however so far it does appear that you are the only person to have actually been targeted."_

"What do you mean?" Dessi asked, though she had a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"_Well, every student who has stepped forwards claiming that they were shot at were also gathered together in a group. You were the only one to be alone when the sniper fired. Thus you see our conclusion that you may have actually been targeted."_

Desiree groaned softly, not caring if Mrs Jones heard or not.

"_Is there anything you may wish to share to shed some light on why you are being targeted by Scorpia?"_

"Um, well, let's see," Dessi said slightly sarcastically, "Scorpia has put me on their hit list, but there's _no_ way that's at all the reason they may be targeting me." Okay, very sarcastically. She already knew that MI6 was aware of Scorpia's…_dislike_ towards her.

Over at the Royal and General Bank, Mrs Jones almost sighed out loud. The girl sounded almost like Alex would in the circumstances. Great, they were dealing with a smart-mouthed teenager. Again.

"_We've already figured this out," _Desiree continued.

"Look, Desiree, MI6 are only trying to help. If it looks like you are in any danger, we may have to contact the AIS for assistance in providing protection for you."

There was a snort on the other line. "_Don't kid yourself, the AIS would only tell you to tell me to take care of myself. Besides, we don't have any units available for what the AIS calls 'baby-sitting' duty."_

Mrs Jones frowned. Geez, the AIS was worse than she thought. Not even _Scorpia_ would leave one of their agents to the mercy of their enemies without putting up some sort of resistance…would they?

"Well then," Mrs Jones said, just so she _had_ something to say, "I guess you all need to be on high alert in case they try something."

"_Will do_."

Mrs Jones hung up the phone. There was still a trace of a frown on her face as she thought about the girl. Unintentionally, Dessi had revealed more about the AIS than was probably allowed. She'd referred to protection as 'baby-sitting' duty with such resignation in her voice that Mrs Jones couldn't help but wonder whether the girl had been through this before.

Mrs Jones sighed and rested her head in her hands. She'd thought using _Alex_ was bad, sending the poor kid out on deadly mission after mission. But from the rumours which had been floating around the espionage world, Desiree Swan had been put onto the field at a far younger age than Alex's fourteen years old.

_What was the world getting to, when countries had to endanger and ruin such young, innocent lives?_

* * *

That Wednesday seemed to pass extraordinarily quickly. They went out to eat lunch, not because they wanted but because Agent Daniels and Agent Banks had to report to Mr Blunt, so they just all decided to accompany them. All too soon it was night, and the household was waiting for another one of Jack's famous ten-minute meals. Spaghetti, this time. Alex had helped her out in the kitchen, preparing a side dish that went with it, along with some dessert.

Desiree had been so shocked when she found out that the boy could cook, she'd sat down on the dining table, hard, and hadn't moved for the entire time in which the teenage spy was cooking. Alex found himself strangely happy that for that entire time the girl's attention had been fixed on him. Which was probably why he'd ended up making dessert in the first place. Well, by making he meant decorating a ready-made Pavlova base, but that still counts.

"Dinner's ready!" Jack announced, plating the food up onto their assigned bowls. There was an immediate reaction from the living room where Jake, Ben, Tom and Andrew were playing cards. At Jack's words, they'd all scrambled to their feet, thrown their cards down, and attempted to get through the door at the same time. Needless to say, it didn't work, causing a momentary halt before the men could figure out how to enter the dining room.

Dinner didn't take them that long to eat, and that included seconds. The men were eating like there was no tomorrow. Granted, they did that every night but tonight, with all the spaghetti slurping and sauce flying everywhere, it looked so much worse.

Alex brought out dessert – the decorated Pavlova he'd – and set it out on the table. He'd then insisted that the ladies had the first slice, and was rewarded with a brilliant smile from Desiree as she accepted her slice. After that smile, he couldn't really take in what anyone else was saying. Her smile just somehow…carried him away into blissfulness.

_What is happening to me?_ Alex thought foggily, trying in vain to tear his eyes away from Dessi's cheerful face, almost glowing with happiness as she laughed at one of Andrew's jokes.

Once dessert was finished, Alex and Desiree went to wash the dishes. Well, Desiree had volunteered, then Alex had hung back until she'd spotted him and told him either to go away or help. Surprisingly, to both of them, he'd chosen to stay and help.

Afterwards they'd both retreated to the living room where the rest of the household were playing "cheat". Since they were already playing, Dessi and Alex merely sat and watched, both wearing knowing smirks because they could see everyone's cards. When the round ended, the winner was Jack, which seemed to surprise everyone since she was the only one in the room, excluding Tom, who wasn't a secret agent. While Jack did her victory dance around the living room, and the others sulked about their loss, Tom excused himself to go to bed. True, it was only 8:30, but he was so tired after the morning's shoot-out that he could no longer keep his eyes opened. He was also yawning an awful lot; it looked like he would sleep while still standing.

Dessi opted out of playing, content to just sit and watch. Alex however, joined the game. With three MI6 agents playing, Jake and Jack seemed to almost team up as they tried to catch them out. Which made sense, seeing as they were the minority. After a yawn so large that Dessi thought her mouth would never return to its original shape, the girl stood and bid the others goodnight. Not that they heard; they were too interested in the game. Only Alex paid her any attention.

Desiree climbed the stairs, slightly groggy. It was almost nine o'clock. Dessi yawned again. What was wrong with her? Her normal bed time was around ten thirty, and that was if she was lucky! Though she had to admit, recently she'd been getting more sleep than she ever thought possible. And another yawn hit her.

_Something isn't right_, Dessi thought when she finally reached the landing, _I shouldn't be this sleepy_. With a slight frown, she thought back to dinner. Had the MI6 agents tried to slip more sleeping pills into her food? No, she'd watched Alex prepare the meal the entire time, and she highly doubted that Jack would try to slip something in. But she was definitely sure that she'd been drugged.

Her senses instantly went onto alert, or at least, as alert as they could get in the state she was in. It was then that Desiree froze. She'd just walked past Tom's closed door when she swore she heard a faint scuffle. One that didn't come from turning in bed. Slowly, she opened Tom's door to check whether or not the boy was alright.

A sudden bright light shone in her eyes, startling a shout from her.

It was then that the full affects of the drug took over. With a soft gasp, Desiree collapsed.

Just before she lost consciousness though, she could just make out the shadowy figure of Tom, bound and gagged, guarded by two other men. The boy didn't look like he'd been hurt; he just looked more scared than anything.

And then, the girl blacked out.

* * *

It was dark. The household, like the ones either side and all those down the street, had all its lights lit up. Its occupants were in the living room, talking cheerfully, laughing, relaxing. They wouldn't see this coming until it was too late.

Gathered around the house were ten men, all dressed in grey. They were the top ten men who graduated from Malagosto. They were all ruthless in their own way, persistent and heartless. Bringing them together would ensure that the mission would be completed.

The assigned leader signalled for the men to move in. Creeping cautiously through the snow, they surrounded the house, each taking their allocated spot. There was another signal; the three men nearest to the guest bedroom began to scale the wall, with a little help from their new covert weapons.

The first man peeked cautiously into the window. There was that black haired kid. He was already asleep. Perfect. The man proceeded to use a laser to cut through the closed window. In a matter of seconds, the three men entered the temporary room of Tom Harris. The boy was sound asleep, though he should be waking in approximately fifteen or so minutes.

The men smirked at each other. When the household had gone out to report to MI6 and then stayed out to have lunch, the men had rubbed a sleeping drug onto the plates which were assigned to Tom and Desiree. The drug was a loose white powder like substance until it was sprinkled with some water. Then it turned translucent, see-through, invisible. It also tuned sort of sticky, which allowed it to stay on the plates. When met with food, the drug would dissolve, and thus be eaten, where it would then set to work.

The drug basically induced sleep. Due to it being something the body does naturally, sleep is the easiest state to medically induce in a human being. This drug knocked out its targets for fifteen minutes, though on non-adults it may be longer.

The men set about tying Tom up, slightly harder than it seemed due to the boy's dead weight. That done, they carefully opened his jaw and placed into his mouth a gag. They couldn't risk the boy waking up and alerting the rest of the household, but they couldn't hurt the boy. Well, not yet at least.

One of the men glanced at his watch and signed something to the others. _Twenty minutes left_. Twenty minutes until the girl should be coming upstairs.

The thing about drugs is that the more you take, the more you've been exposed to, the less effective it is. The AIS requires all its agents to undergo 'DPIT' (Drugs and Poisons Immunity Training). Basically, that's when they force their agents to take numerous drugs and poisons in increasing doses until the agents are able to become relatively immune to them. However, with ever increasing technology comes ever increasing drugs and poisons with different chemicals, and it isn't exactly possible to be immune to them all. The drug Scorpia used was definitely new.

They had tested the drug on one of their prisoners, forcing him through the same program the AIS uses before giving him the new drug. It had taken a bit more than twenty minutes before the drug actually took affect. Thus they predicted that in a teenage body, it should take only about twenty minutes.

After about fifteen minutes, Tom woke up, slightly groggy from his induced sleep. Seeing the strange men, his first instinct had been to shout. However, that was until he realised that he'd been bound and gagged. And that made him scared. Sure, in the past weeks there'd been numerous attempts to get to him, but at least he wasn't so helpless then.

Someone yawned. The three men looked up, staring intently at the door. One of them pressed a button on his watch. It would send a signal out to say that target two had walked into their reach. It would signal for the other men surrounding the household to move in.

One of the men took out a flashlight, and scuffed his foot on the floor. If what was said about this girl was true, then she would be able to recognise that there was something off about the noise. Sure enough, they heard soft footsteps approach the door, before it was gently opened.

The man flicked his torch on, startling a shout from the girl.

Abruptly, her eyes rolled up and she fainted. The drug had taken affect. The three men moved quickly, one of them grabbing the girl and the other getting the bound Tom. Downstairs they could hear the scraping of chairs; no doubt the agents protecting the house had heard the girl shout. Then with a loud bang, the front door burst open. At the same time, the kitchen window shattered. And in stormed the remaining seven Scorpia agents.

The three agents escaped through the window with their hostages, running into the night where they had previously parked a getaway car.

Finally, revenge was in their grasp.

* * *

_Dessi and Tom got kidnapped! What will happen now?_

_So, how did you like this chapter? Please tell in a __**review**__!!!_

_Got any ideas, or any scenes you want to see in the story? Tell me too!!!_

_Love Chariots99_


	10. Back and Forth

_**Sorry it's taken so long for me to upload this chapter. I was in a sulking mood since I've been slaving over this story, which has now officially had over 2000 hits, and yet only 2.65% of my readers have reviewed. Do you all hate this story or something?**_

_**Anyways, while I've been brooding, I've figured out an awesome new system for updating. The more reviews I get, the faster I'll upload the next chapter. If I get 20 or more reviews, I'll upload it the next day! So please review! **_

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan)._

**Chapter 10**

Alex looked at his cards, then at the ones Ben had just put down. There was no way that Ben just put down three fours. After all, he had two of the fours. Alex grinned at Ben.

"Cheat," he said smugly, and was rewarded with Ben's blank mask dropping into a scowl.

The MI6 agent groaned as the others laughed at his misfortune; the pile of cards had actually gotten quite high, so that now Ben had almost more than half the deck in his hands.

"I hate this game," Ben growled.

"Just because you're losing," Banks said, grinning.

Ben rolled his eyes and glared at Alex. The boy gave him a cheeky smile before reinitiating the game, putting down two cards. Before anyone else could make a move, a shout shattered the silence that went with the game.

Jake leapt up, Alex following. They both recognised that voice – Desiree. Before any of them had time to move, the front door burst open. Ben and Andrew leapt to the feet, spinning to face the intruders just as the kitchen window shattered and more identically dressed men rolled into the house. There were seven of them, seven men who almost immediately took up a stance right in front of the staircase, effectively blocking their path to the upstairs. Alex moved to block Jack, shielding her behind him. Ben, Andrew and Jake jumped into action, leaping for the Scorpia agents.

It was complete and utter chaos after that. The seven Scorpia agents were too good. They moved too fast to catch, and lashed out with blows that were so hard they knocked them through the air to the other side of the room. It wasn't long before Andrew collapsed. Ben was knocked unconscious not long after that. Jake fared slightly better than the two MI6 agents only because he had Desiree as his field partner, and the girl was freaking fast. Not as fast as fully trained Scorpia agents though.

It was seven on one. Jake positioned himself so that the agents would have to get past him to get to Alex, whom they would have to get past to reach Jack. The Scorpia agents leapt towards Jake. The man blocked the rain of blows, deflecting them, dodging them, desperately trying to avoid them, all the while trying to land his own hits. There was a slight opening with the man on his right, and he took it. If he could knock the man out, it would only be six against one; not much better, but still better than nothing.

Jake shifted his weight slightly and lashed out. He hit his target, and the man crumpled to the ground, unconscious. The others quickly closed in the ranks, one of them kicking aside their fallen colleague so as to not step on him in the fight.

Alex stood in front of Jack, blocking her in case the agents wanted to get to her. Which meant that he could only watch the fight blossoming in the house. He winced with sympathy for each blow Jake took, knowing that he was protecting Alex. The teenage spy bit his lip in worry. If two MI6 agents couldn't stop them, and the AIS agent was only barely holding on, what chance did a sixteen year old school boy have should they decide to come his way?

_No, I will not allow these killers to get to Jack,_ Alex thought firmly, tensing up as his body prepared to fight, _Over my dead body will they get past me._

He was never given a chance to come true with his vow. At that moment, one of the remaining six agents landed a blow on Jake's chest that effectively threw him backwards. He landed hard on his back, the wind knocked from him. The six agents ran out of the house, not even bothering to get to Alex.

The teenage spy frowned, leaving Jack and rushing after the Scorpia agents. Not the best idea, really, running after assassins, but he'd done more idiotic things in the past. Alex got out of the house in time to see a car take off, the six agents crammed inside.

"Alex?" Jack stood behind him, supporting a slightly limping Jake, "Alex, come back inside, it's freezing."

Alex nodded and walked through the open doors. The lock had been ripped right out of the frame. The boy bent forwards for a closer inspection, and found that some sort of foam had been poured into the keyhole which loosened the lock enough for the door to be kicked open.

"They just left their team member here," Jake said with disgust, his voice slightly hoarse. Alex shook his head slightly, attempting to close the door. Well, it sort of worked. Alex went over to check on the two unconscious MI6 agents. Ben was just stirring, though Andrew still looked out of it. Poor guy, he'd been the most injured out of the lot of them.

Jack was currently helping Jake up the stairs. The man had a sinking feeling about the attack. It was a distraction. He couldn't help but remember the first thing those agents had done when they'd broken in; they'd blocked the stairs. And only two people had gone upstairs. The one they were meant to be protecting, and the other a high priority on Scorpia's hit list. Great.

Tom's door was opened, a huge chunk of his window missing, cut out by a laser. Jake gritted his teeth. The boy's bed was empty. They'd definitely used the attack as a diversion, so they could get the boy without retaliation.

Jack looked around worriedly. It was she who found the note they had left on the floor before escaping with the two hostages. Jack picked it up and quickly read it, her eyes widening. Then she thrust the note at the AIS agent, who skim read it, chewing on his lip. Alex thudded up the stairs after being satisfied that Ben and Andrew wouldn't die on them. He found the two in Tom's room, Jake reading some sort of note. Jake looked up and wordlessly handed the piece of paper to him, his eyes revealing nothing. Alex frowned and started to read.

_We have the boy. He will not be harmed unless our demands are not met. The boy will be set free as soon as Alex Rider gives himself up to us. _

_As for the girl, you're too late._

_-Scorpia_

Alex swore violently under his breath. They had Tom. And Desiree. Well, at least he knew that Tom would be safe for now. _As for the girl, you're too late_…Too late. Shit, they were going to kill her. But no, knowing Scorpia, Dessi would probably get tortured until she begged for death. Then, they would make her death as painful as possible.

Alex trembled. He was _not _going to let that happen.

Ignoring the other two, he went into his room and pulled out his new touch screened phone, the one Ben and Andrew had gotten him for his birthday. His finger hovered over the two emergency buttons; alert MI6, or call Mrs Jones? He settled for 'alert MI6', not feeling in the mood to talk about what happened.

Jake and Jack were making their way back downstairs. Alex joined them, phone in one hand, Scorpia's letter in the other. He found that Ben and Andrew had both fully recovered consciousness, and were waiting for them in the partially destroyed living room. Jack helped Jake to sit, the man wincing slightly when Jack's hand slipped across the side of his rib cage. He'd probably broken some ribs. Alex gave Ben and Andrew the note, then told them he'd just contacted MI6, before sitting down in the shocked silence.

Jake rested his face in his hands so that no one could see his expression. His field partner had been kidnapped. She was probably going to be tortured for useless information or just purely for the fun of those killers. And in his injured state, there was barely anything he could do to save her.

* * *

Desiree woke up to find that she was complete in the dark. With a jolt, she sat up, tensed. There was a slight tinkling sound, and the girl felt the charms on her bracelet dance around. She had been lying on cold hard concrete floors. There were no windows to let in light. She couldn't even see the door, which only meant that it was built into the frame to minimize the chances of escape. Joy.

There was a soft mutter beside her, and the wall thudded. Dessi froze, before recognising the voice that was now colourfully swearing under his breath.

"Tom?" She whispered.

"Dessi?"

"You okay?"

Tom snorted lightly. "Dessi, we're stuck in God-knows where for an extremely long time. You've been out of it for the majority _of_ that time. Do you think I'm okay?"

"I suppose not."

Tom drew in a deep breath. He'd never been stuck in this situation before, and though he was trying to remain as calm as he could, it was hard to ignore his nerves. He had an active imagination, which although was an awesome thing most of the times, it didn't really help when his mind was putting together all the different things that could be done to him. It didn't help that he knew what Alex had been through on many of _his_ interrogations.

"What's going to happen?" He asked as evenly as he could manage.

Desiree paused, unsure what to tell the boy. From what she already knew of him, Tom was not easily terrified. But nor had he ever been captured and held. In the end she decided to tell the boy the truth, or at least what she knew to be the truth from her previous experiences.

"Well," she began, "It's almost certain that they'll leave us in here for a while; builds up our nerves, you know. Sometimes, it's the thought of an event, rather than that event itself, that causes the most pain."

"And in this case, that event would be…?"

Dessi sighed. "Probably torture."

"Even me?" Tom's voice had gone quite small.

"Um…I can't say. Probably not though. They need you in one piece, otherwise they won't get to Alex."

"How do you know they're trying to get to Alex?"

Dessi grinned slightly, though it couldn't be seen in the dark.

"How do I know?" She said, "Well, it's obvious they drugged our food. We were the only two to be even _remotely_ tired. Now, I know why they want me, but as to you…no offence but you really don't know anything. Like, information that would be useful to them. And the only thing that is against you, is the fact that you're Alex's best friend."

"I'm not really following. I mean, why don't they just _get _Alex? Why are they trying so hard to get me?" Tom asked.

"I'm just guessing here, but I'm thinking if they went straight for Alex, he would put up a fight. If they went for you, Alex wouldn't fight at all for fear that they would hurt you."

"Ah, I think I get it," Tom said. He sat down on the floor, "So why do they want you?"

"I don't think you want to know," Dessi replied darkly.

"Why not?"

Desiree barely bit back a groan of frustration. Honestly, she had _no_ idea how Alex put up with the boy sometimes. He could get so…_annoying_.

"You just don't," she said with a firm finality in her voice.

"And why not?"

"Tom! For the love of God! Stop asking!" Dessi exclaimed.

"Okay, okay! Calm down!"

The girl almost snorted. They were trapped in a cell, with no means of escape. Hell, it was so dark they couldn't even _see_ their own hands if they waved it in front of their faces. They were being held in God-knows where. Scorpia had them in their grasp. They would be intent on knowing what she knew, and she knew that they could become extremely forceful for information.

Yep, she could _definitely_ calm down.

* * *

It was now nearly eleven at night. They were at the Royal and General Bank. Or the headquarters of the Special Operations, MI6. Whichever one you want to call it. Currently the group of them were seated in Mr Blunt's office, while the head of the SO sat opposite them thinking over a thousand thoughts and his second in command stood behind him, her face perfectly impassive.

Blunt mulled over the events of the night. How the Scorpia agents had managed to get the two teens upstairs on their own was slightly beyond him, though he did have a suspicion. However, he was slightly more lost as to why they would take Tom as opposed to Alex. Sure, the note spoke of a trade, but it would've been easier to just grab the teenage spy. Why go to all that trouble?

The group were waiting for someone. That much had been told to them. The problem was that whomever they were waiting for was either taking their time, or hadn't been informed by Blunt that they were needed. Alex wouldn't put it past the head of the SO to make him wait for almost an hour in silence then claim it was an exercise designed to practice his patience.

Alex gritted his teeth in an effort to prevent himself from groaning in frustration. His best friend would be alright once he gave himself up. But Dessi…Alex couldn't help but remember the way her crystal blue eyes would light up when she was happy…or her highly contagious laugh…the feel of her hands around his…

The door opened behind him, effectively snapping the teenage spy out of his thoughts. Alex, Jack, Jake, Ben and Andrew spun in their seats to see Mr Smithers bustle into Mr Blunt's office, a palm sized monitor of some sort clutched tightly in his hand.

Mr Blunt looked up. "Ah, Mr Smithers. Good, good."

Smithers handed Blunt the monitor. Mr Blunt and Mrs Jones both leaned in to examine the two unmoving red dots present on the screen. Jones straightened up again as Blunt tapped the apparently touch screened monitor with a finger. The screen split into two, one half still showing the two red dots, the other listing what appeared to be GPS locations.

"Thank you Mr Smithers," Blunt said, not even bothering to look up at his gadget expert. Smithers looked like he expected no less, and turned to leave. Before he was completely out the door, he winked at Alex and jerked his head discreetly to his wrist. Then he closed the door.

Alex frowned for a moment before dropping his eyes to his wrist. There was nothing on it. Oh, maybe the other wrist? The boy shifted so he could see his other wrist. There was nothing there either. Well, only his watch…

"…_the longest hand on the watch is a very powerful explosive, the shorter hand less so. The seconds hand releases the sleeping gas, the same one as in the charm bracelet. You have seven seconds after removing the hands before they either blow up or knock you out. There's also an inbuilt tracking device on yours too. MI6 has some new policy nowadays…"_

Suddenly, the boy understood. There was an inbuilt tracking device in his watch! There was one in Desiree's bracelet too! They could actually track the girl! Even such a little shard of hope raised Alex's previously sunken emotions. They had a chance, they had a chance now to save her.

Blunt raised his head to look passively at those gathered before him.

"We will be sending out scouts to access the extent of the security which surrounds Agent Swan and Mr Harris. No, we can't just send in the troops," Blunt said, correctly guessing Alex's next comment, "Though we have GPS locations, we don't know where they are being held. It would be a waste of lives," he added, though his tone of voice suggested that he really didn't give a damn.

"Agent Wood," Blunt said, nodding to the injured Jake, "You will be taken to St. Dominic's immediately. There is nothing you can do in this state," he added when Jake opened his mouth to argue. The AIS agent snapped his mouth shut, "Agent Banks and Agent Daniels, you will both be taken to St. Dominic's for a check up. Miss Starbright will accompany you. Mr Rider, you will wait here while we assemble the rest of the scouts, and then you will all be debriefed as to-"

"Alex is coming with us!" Jack cut in, "I'm not letting you send him anywhere. He's not going as your scout or whatever you said! Not after tonight!"

"Excuse me?" Blunt said, raising one of his eyebrows. Though his expression remained impassive, it was quite obvious what he was thinking.

"You're not sending Alex anywhere!" Jack repeated, her voice rising slightly in volume, "He's _not_ going to be risking his life when you have so many others who are _willing _to go!"

"Jack," Alex mumbled softly, though his housekeeper apparently didn't hear him. Ben had laid a hand on the woman's shoulder in an attempt to get her to stop talking.

"You hear me?! You're not sending Alex out to risk his life again! He's been through enough in the last few weeks, and not to mention everything you put him through two years ago! I won't stand for it!"

"Jack," Alex said again, slightly louder though. Jake gently grabbed Jack's arm to restrain her, since she looked like she was about to lunge at Blunt.

"So you can_ forget_ about debriefing Alex! You hear me?!" It appeared that the night's events had finally caused the American to snap. Before she entered the territory of hysteria, Alex stood and placed himself in front of her, blocking her view of Blunt. Gently, he pulled her up, and guided her outside. Jake, Ben and Andrew looked at each other, surprised. _What the heck caused Jack to act like that_?

Blunt cleared his throat, causing the three agents to snap their heads around and look at him. "You three are dismissed. Please escort Miss Starbright downstairs to the lobby; there will be a car waiting for you. And make sure Mr Rider stays," Blunt added. The agents nodded and left.

The head of the SO turned to Mrs Jones. "Please ask St. Dominic's to give Miss Starbright a check up. I believe she may have gone into shock."

Mrs Jones nodded.

"Get Agents Crawley, Garnett, Ibsen, Allende, Alving, and Creelman to the Debriefing room. Inform Agent Rider that he will be required to attend, though I'm sure that we do not need to force him since it is his friends in danger. And place Units K, D, M, B and F on standby, code alert red," Blunt finished his instructions and waved his hand. Mrs Jones understood that to be her dismissal, and quickly left the room.

Blunt sighed and turned to look back at the monitor, watching the two red dots. The one further down was Alex's, and it appeared that he'd stayed in the building. The other was Desiree's. That was the only clue they had about where she and Tom were being held. Blunt stood, ready to go and brief the rest of the agents for the scouting mission. As he left the room, a thought passed through his head. He knew that he only though this because if the two were killed before they could move in, then MI6 would undoubtedly lose one of their best agents. Nonetheless, as he closed the door, the thought passed through his head.

_I hope we're not too late_.

* * *

Okay, apparently the cell which she and Tom were being held in actually did have a window. If you could call it that. The window was on the ceiling. It was heavily tinted, and looked to be bolted onto the roof to ensure that there would be no escaping from that root. The two teenagers couldn't see it, but from the outside, the window was actually disguised as a solar heating panel. The disguise was necessary; there was simply no other way to make the window secure without raising suspicions.

The tinted window was at least letting in enough light for the two to observe their rather bare cell. Tom had just woken up from his rather fitful sleep, his muscles aching due to the hard concrete floor. Desiree hadn't slept at all; she knew that Scorpia could, and probably would, use that time to start whatever they had planned, and she didn't want to be caught on her unawares. So far, no-one had come for them.

"Sleep well?" Dessi asked, her voice soft and slightly hoarse.

Tom shook his head, kneading his cramping muscles with soft whimpers. "I've never slept on concrete before," he said.

Dessi smirked humourlessly. "I take it you don't want to repeat that experience?"

"I'll let you know if I survive," Tom replied.

There was a loud and harsh grating noise. The two teens snapped up to see the door being drawn open; it had apparently been bolted shut from the outside, thus the noise. Dessi inwardly sighed in annoyance. Trust Scorpia to place so much security on their cells.

Three men walked in, two obviously guards for the man they flanked. Dessi took one look at him and froze. It was William Smith. The American CIA agent turned Scorpia agent.

"You!" Dessi snarled. Before Tom could blink, the girl lunged from her sitting position towards the man. She never reached him. The moment she'd leapt to her feet, the two men flanking William moved. They darted forwards and caught the girl mid-lunge, each grabbing one of her arms, before flinging her into the wall.

The wind was knocked out of her when she hit the wall, though she managed to keep her head from being hit. Dropping to the floor, she glared up with hate at the man standing before her. He didn't so much as flinch when she lunged for him, knowing that his guards would intercept and restrain the girl.

William gave a signal, and the two guards split. One went for Tom, blocking the boy so he couldn't interfere. He'd been given strict instructions not to touch Tom unless it was absolutely necessary. The other guard did not have such instructions. He went over to the panting girl and hauled her up to her feet by grabbing her hair. To the girl's credit, she didn't let even a whimper escape her lips, though William noticed the flash of pain that crossed her eyes before she turned her glare on him again.

"Well, well, well," William said, walking closer towards the girl as the guard restrained her arms, "Desiree, Desiree, Desiree."

Dessi raised an eyebrow. "Why, why, why, are, are, are, you, you, you, repeating, repeating, repeating, everything, everything-" She was abruptly cut off with a cutting slap across her face and a forceful knee to her stomach. Dessi gasped in pain, doubling over as much as she could without dislocating her arms from their position behind her back.

William reached across and grabbed her hair, wrenching the girl's head up. "I don't know how many times I've had to tell you that I don't accept cheek. Maybe another lesson is in order," And so saying, the man let go of Dessi hair and nodded at the guard, who then proceeded to drag the girl out of the cell. Dessi fought in vain to stay on her feet; the guard had her in a hold that could easily dislocate if not break her arms if all her weight was on it.

The man guarding Tom left, following the other guard. William turned to the boy, who cowered slightly away.

"You are safe for now," he sneered at Tom, "But don't even bother trying anything. Just stay put like an obedient little puppy, and we'll let you out as soon as your friend pays us a visit." With that, William turned and left. The heavy doors were closed, the bolts slid back into place. Tom dropped to the floor. He was locked in again. Now they had Dessi.

But something didn't add up. What was with the girl's behaviour? Why did she lunge for that man? And why did he talk like the two had met before? A part of the, well, conversation for want of a better word, came back to Tom – "_Maybe another lesson is in order"._ Another lesson. She'd been through this before. Tom sighed, dropping his head into his hands.

Why were the lives of spies so very complicated?

* * *

Desiree was dragged out of the cell and down an extremely short corridor, all the while fighting not to have her arms broken. They appeared in a room with a table and three chairs. All three were occupied with more guards, who looked up as the group entered and left. Dessi glanced back; all three guards were equipped with guns and knives. The girl knew that they didn't need those weapons to kill any intruders or escapees; their level of attention, not to mention their postures, were enough to tell the girl that the three were trained killers, able to kill with their hands alone.

There was another corridor, though this one was much longer and had closed doors lining the wall. The girl knew only too well what lay behind those. Dessi was dragged through a door near the end of the corridor. William entered and slammed the door shut behind him.

"You may remember this room," William smirked gesturing towards each corner of the rather small room. Dessi's crystal blue eyes darted around, and to her horror she realised this was the exact room she'd been in before. The wall opposite the door had weapons which ranged from small knives at the left to long, dangerous swords on the right. The wall on the left held numerous electrical devices. The wall on the right held a riding crop and a whip. Directly above where the girl was standing, in the middle of the room, were two chains.

William strode forwards and grabbed Dessi right arm, forcing it above her head so that the chain could be attached to her arm. That done, he grabbed her left arm and bound it the same way. The chains were relatively long, so currently were quite loose and allowed the girl's arms to rest on her head. That was as far as they stretched though.

"Dismissed," William said to the two guards. Both nodded and left. Dessi knew that they would be standing right outside the door, trying to hear her scream through the slightly sound proof walls. _Sadistic bastards_, she thought.

Desiree eyed William warily. She knew what the man was capable of. And even worse, he did this for _amusement_. The last time…_no_, don't think about the last time!

"So…" The man said, smirking, "What shall we do? Ah!" William moved to the right wall, taking down the whip. He caressed the handle almost like it was a loved one. The man looked up at Desiree. To his satisfaction, the girl's crystal blue eyes had widened in fear, though she tried in vain to hide it.

_Ah, she still remembers about last time,_ William thought in glee, _Well, after this she won't forget this time either!_

* * *

_And that's chapter ten!!!Wow it was long!_

_Sorry it's taken so long for me to upload this chapter. I was in a sulking mood since I've been slaving over this story, which has now officially had over 2000 hits, and yet only 2.65% of my readers have reviewed. Do you all hate this story or something?_

_Anyways, while I've been brooding, I've figured out an awesome new system for updating. The more reviews I get, the faster I'll upload the next chapter. If I get 20 or more reviews, I'll upload it the next day! So __**please review!**_

_**VERY IMPORTANT NOTE/QUESTION/THINGIE:**____Do you guys want me to write the torture scenes or just describe her injuries? I don't know what you guys prefer reading…please let me know so I don't end up offending you or something!_

_Love Chariots99_


	11. Scouting

_**THE NEW SYSTEM!!!**__ Right, the new system is where the more reviews I get, the faster I upload. If I get twenty or more reviews, I upload the very next day. _

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan)._

_**WARNING**__ – This chapter contains stuff that _really_ shouldn't be read by people who can't handle, or are not at the right age to handle, things like torture. You have been warned…You are permitted to skip the first bit if you don't want to read the torture scene. I've tried to make it as not graphic as possible._

**Chapter 11**

_ "So…" The man said, smirking, "What shall we do? Ah!" William moved to the right wall, taking down the whip. He caressed the handle almost like it was a loved one. The man looked up at Desiree. To his satisfaction, the girl's crystal blue eyes had widened in fear, though she tried in vain to hide it. _

_Ah, she still remembers about last time, William thought in glee, Well, after this she won't forget this time either!_

William walked to the girl, the whip trailing along the floor behind him like some bizarrely obedient snake. He stopped in front of Desiree, who was flinching away from him and not meeting his eye. Reaching out, he gripped her chin and tilted her head up. Crystal blue eyes gazed at him, slightly widened in fear and panic. Smirking, William let the girl's head go.

"You know," he said as he made his way behind her, "If you just learnt how to keep your mouth shut, we wouldn't have to repeat this lesson."

Desiree bit down on her lip to keep from retorting. Although she hated to admit it, she was scared. Terrified. She knew better than most what the man was capable of. And with a whip in his hand, he was even more terrifying.

"So, your punishment…" William trailed off, making a huge show of thinking, "The last time you were here, I believe we made it up to twenty lashes? Well, you've grown quite a bit. And how long since we last met? Ten months I believe? Well, let's add twenty lashes and see what happens, eh?"

Dessi's eyes widened in horror. _Fourty lashes?!_ There was _no_ way she could stand that! The girl gritted her teeth. She was going to stand it, even if it killed her.

The first stroke fell, and it was all the AIS agent could do to prevent herself from making a noise. Oh, God, it hurt! But she knew it would only get worse. The first few strokes would be cushioned by her shirt. The last few would be hell.

The force of the second stroke sent her tumbling forwards before, with a painful jerk, the chains upon which her arms were bound to forced her back again. Dessi gasped, trying to fill her lungs. God, that almost dislocated her arms too!

Stroke after stroke fell upon her back. William seemed to be aiming for her upper back more, probably since it wouldn't kill her as quickly. Desiree gritted her teeth, but couldn't keep herself from crying out in pain. She knew better than to bite down on her tongue though; it was quite common to actually bite off one's own tongue during torture.

She wasn't sure how many strokes had passed before William lashed out and crossed the next stroke against two of the previous wounds. The result was instant and mind numbing pain. The stroke, already painful in itself, caused the other two to flare up as well. Desiree screamed, her body jerking as far away from William as the chains would allow her to go. It seemed that the sadistic Scorpia agent was just waiting for her to cry out. He paused, fully enjoying the sound of the girl's painful screaming echoing off the walls.

At length, her screams died down, replaced with a soft whimpering sound as Dessi tried to catch her breath. She was panting heavily, and she could fell tears running down her cheeks. It didn't help that her screaming had set her throat on fire.

The whip came down again, and again, and again. Desiree screamed, crying out, her body jerking violently in spasms of pain. Her legs shook, refusing to support her weight any longer. Then her knees buckled, and she fell as far as she could before, with a loud rattling, the chains stopped her, almost dislocating her arms in the process. The metal pulled on her arms, bruising them and causing the girl even more pain.

Then the whip came down again. And again. And again. Sending the girl into a whole new world of pain from which there was no escape. Her voice soon broke from her screams. Oh, God, how long had she been in that room?

The whipping stopped. Her blood ran in floods down her back, pooling around her on the ground. She felt faint, dizzy. Probably due to the loss of blood. William walked around so that he could face the fainting girl. Cupping one hand under her chin, he gently lifted her head up so that he could see her eyes.

William leaned forwards so that their faces were millimetres apart.

"You know," the man said, gazing into her pain filled crystal blue eyes, "Each time I see you, you get more and more beautiful. I knew when you were six that you were quite a catch. Shame really, that you had to leave, but still…The offer stands. If I were you, I'd accept it."

"Thank God you're not me," Dessi whispered, her voice hoarse, "And I'd sooner kiss Jake than sleep with you."

Anger flared in the man's eyes and he sneered. "Play hard to get then. It'll be fun breaking you. I've nothing to do. But break you I will. And by the time I'm through, you'd wish you accepted long before."

With that William stood, dropping the girl's head. He replaced the whip up on the wall, and turned to open the door. With his hand still on the door knob, he turned back to Desiree again. "I always end up getting what I want. You should keep that in mind." With that he left.

Dessi watched him go through her peripheral vision, having no energy left to lift her head. She saw the two guards come in to collect her, probably to drag her back to the cell. Squinting at where William had disappeared from, she whispered four almost inaudible words.

"Over my dead body."

* * *

The briefing had gone on longer than Alex would've liked. Since he pretty much knew about the whole situation, the boy just sat back in his rather uncomfortable chair and zoned out. It was almost two in the morning when Blunt actually got into the plan of how the scouting would take place.

And now, it was a little past noon time. The boy had fallen asleep in the back of the van. Well, granted they all fell asleep except for the driver and the navigator. You can't be expected to stay up all night, then go scouting in enemy territory without any sleep, and still be expected to live. It just didn't happen. So naturally Alex fell asleep.

It took them almost an hour to reach the place where Dessi and Tom were being held. The red dot on Smithers' monitor hadn't moved from the general area once. When they arrived, Alex had been roughly shaken awake by Agent Crawley. The boy gritted his teeth in frustration. What he wouldn't give for Ben, or Andrew, or even _Jake_ to come. But no, he was now surrounded by six MI6 agents who, with the exception of John Crawley, he didn't know at all.

In fact, Alex had no idea why Mr Blunt had wanted him to go at all. His instructions while the others were inside, were to just stay in the car and keep radio contact with everyone. And to keep an eye on the red dot that was Desiree to make sure they weren't being moved. Alright, maybe it's a pretty important job, but that didn't stop Alex from getting bored within the first five minutes of the other agents leaving for their respective tasks.

There was one agent who'd been assigned the same job as him. Agent Rose Allende. Alex was extremely happy she wasn't one of those MI6 agents for gawking at him merely because he was doing their job better than them, while still being underage. Once Blunt explained about him, she'd glanced at the boy, gave him a small but warm smile, and then turned back to Blunt instead of continuously staring like the rest of the agents had done.

Rose had deep brown hair that had recently been cut; it now hung just above her shoulders. Her eyes were hazel, and she was about two centimetres shorter than Alex. She wasn't very old, early twenties maybe, as compared to the other agents who were at least thirty. She was also very friendly, and talkative, and Alex hadn't yet felt awkward in her presence at all.

"So, this your first scout mission?" She asked, typing away on her laptop.

"Yeah. You?" Alex was busy trying to get the headset working while keeping an eye on the red dot that was currently stationary on the monitor.

"Nope! This would be my…third, I believe," Rose said cheerfully, still furiously typing away on her laptop. Alex had no idea what she was supposed to be doing, having zoned out right after Blunt had explained his task.

For a while they worked in a comfortable silence. Then Rose let out a soft "Ha!" of triumph and the teenage spy craned his neck to look over her shoulder; she'd managed to pinpoint the location of all their agents, representing them as blue dots. Alex smiled at the women's enthusiasm. At that moment, his headset crackled to life, indicating his success.

"All agents, this is base. Do you copy? Over," Alex said, testing the headset as well as how well the earpieces and microphones which the other agents had been given were working. By now, they should all have reached their preset scouting locations.

"_Base, this is Centipede,"_ Agent Crawley said, and even over the airwaves Alex could hear his annoyance at the code-name he'd been given, "_Copy you loud and clear. Over."_

"_Base this is Ruby, copy you loud and clear. Over," _Agent Garnett said.

"_Base this is Iguana, copy you loud and clear. Over," _Agent Ibsen whispered.

_Base this is Whiskers, copy you loud and clear. Over," _Agent Alving replied.

_Base this is Moose, copy you loud and clear. Over," _Agent Creelman hissed. He was extremely annoyed that a teenager had been placed in charge of communications. The man seemed to trust Agent Rose Allende, and no-one else.

"All agents, this is base." Rose had come over and put on her headset; she now spoke to the other agents. Alex let her, since he pretty much had no idea what he was meant to be doing, "Report current status. Over"

"_Base this is Centipede. Successfully stationed and waiting. Over."_

"_Base this is Ruby. Successfully stationed and waiting. Over."_

Alex zoned out slightly as he waited for all the agents to report in. Really, this was taking way too long. The boy fidgeted in his seat, knowing that each moment they took was another moment out of Dessi's life. And he still had no idea how he was going to rescue Tom. Wasn't life so great sometimes?

The teenage spy zoned back into the report in time to hear Agent Allende say, "All agents, this is base. Move out and good luck. Over." Rose took of her headset with a small sigh, and gave Alex a reassuring smile.

"Well, we have a few minutes of peace before things get hectic," Rose said, her eyes glued to the screen of her laptop where the blue dots of her fellow agents converged upon the building at a rather slow rate. Alex nodded.

"Can I ask you a question?" He asked. Rose nodded, though her eyes never left the laptop.

"When Blunt first introduced me," Alex said, "You were the only one who didn't stare at me like I was an alien. How come?"

"Did you want me to stare at you like you were an alien?"

"Oh, God no!" Alex responded hastily, recalling the extreme awkwardness and agitation he'd felt, "Not at all! But I'm still curious, you know?"

Rose smiled. "Yea I do know, actually. Before you came, I was the youngest agent at MI6. I joined when I was nineteen," she added, "And back then, I was getting all these stares. You'd think spies would learn _not_ to stare…Anyways, when Blunt introduced you, I sort of understood how you felt with all the staring and gaping."

"Oh," Alex said softly. Well, at least the two of them had something in common. And it sort of explained why the woman looked the youngest out of all the agents he'd seen. Well, maybe with the exception of Jake… "How old are you now?"

Rose raised her eyebrows. "You know it's rude to ask a woman her age?" She said, though Alex could see the corners of her mouth twitch upwards.

"Yeah, I'm just curious though."

"I turned twenty-two three weeks ago." Okay, she was slightly older than Jake.

"_Base, this is Whiskers. I'm in position, requesting radio silence. Over."_ Alex hurriedly gestured at the headset, and Rose jammed hers back on as the boy replied with an affirmative. Soon the other four agents had reported in and had requested radio silence so that they wouldn't be disturbed. Alex and Rose would still be able to hear what was going on if they so choose, but unless it was an emergency, they had to refrain from talking to the agents for fear of getting found out.

"Now the wait begins," Rose whispered softly, her eyes never leaving the laptop screen as the blue dots began their search of the building to try and locate Tom and Desiree, as well as to scout out any guards they may have to deal with during their rescue attempt.

Alex gritted his teeth, briefly crossing his fingers for luck. He was hoping that this would go quickly and efficiently. He didn't really want to think of what could happen if they didn't find the two teenagers in time.

For the next hour and a half, Alex and Rose sat with their eyes glued to the computer screen as the blue dots searched the entire house for the missing teenagers and potential threats. Occasionally they would get back a whispered report, usually along the lines of "_Weapons storage in east wing"_ or "_Explosives detected, just off north entrance". _It wasn't until Agents Crawley, Alving and Garnett reported in that Alex felt the beginnings of butterflies in his stomach.

"_Infiltrated guards; awaiting return of hostage"_. Subconsciously, Alex started biting his nails, trying to rid himself of his nerves. If those three agents were caught out, they would be so dead. And probably a very painful dead too.

"This is it," Rose muttered softly, her eyes glued on the three blue dots that were now stationary, marking the position of the guarding room located just outside the cell.

* * *

The two guards dragged Desiree's limp form through the long corridor. The girl couldn't even be bothered to struggle. She could feel her wounds throbbing, and each time the guards pulled on her arm, another one of her whip marks would tear further apart, sending a searing pain throughout her body.

They reached the guard room, where the three guards still sat and kept watch on the cell. Dimly, Dessi was aware that these three guards were different; they had a slightly less rigid posture, and seemed less alert than their previous colleagues. One of them looked slightly familiar, but another throb of pain shooting up her back jerked Dessi away from that line of thought.

The grating sound of the bolts being drawn shook Tom out of his fitful slumber. The boy lifted his head off his arms to see the doors being wrenched open and a figure being shoved inside and a bucket of something being set on the ground, before the door was snapped shut and the bolts done up again. The figure collapsed onto the concrete floor and lay limp and unmoving. Tom ventured closer and gasped in horror.

Desiree lay on the floor on her stomach, her clothes completely drenched in blood. She was barely stirring, seemingly bordering unconsciousness. The back of her shirt was in tatters. There was a spreading bruise on her cheek in the shape of a hand, probably from when William had slapped her that morning in the cell. Tom swallowed, trying not to vomit. Just to have something else to look at, he looked across at the bucket, dragging it closer to him.

The bucket was filled with water. There was a towel too. Tom took the towel out and wrung it to get rid of excess water. He had a feeling that the water had been left to clean the girl's injuries. Even if it wasn't for that purpose, he was going to do that anyway.

Gently, Tom peeled back Dessi's shirt, revealing her bloodied back. He hissed softly in sympathy. As softly as he could, he wiped away the blood, soaking it up with the towel, before washing the piece of cloth and repeating the process. Somewhere along the line, Desiree fainted completely, lulled by the soft touch. Her heartbeat slowed as it does during unconsciousness, slowing the amount of blood that was being pumped around the girl's body.

As Tom continued to wipe away the flow of blood, he noticed how it slowed. The slowing of her heartbeat was giving her blood the chance to clot, covering the open wounds on her back. That could only be a good thing. Soon, the blood flow thinned enough that, for the first time, Tom was able to see exactly what caused had the massive outpouring of blood in the first place.

And it wasn't a pretty sight.

Layers upon layers of whip marks criss-crossed the girl's back, digging into her skin. The places with the heaviest bleeding appeared to have been caused by the whip ripping several centimetres into her flesh. Tom tried very hard not to vomit, trying to stem the blood flow from the open wounds. How the _hell_ could whips rip into flesh so badly? Or maybe he just wasn't paying attention during history when the teacher had been talking about whips.

"Oh, Dessi," he whispered, dropping the cloth into the now deep red water. He tried to cover the girl up as best as he could, but that was rather difficult with the back of her shirt in tatters. Tom bit his lip in worry. He knew that when a person was unconscious, their body heat can plummet dramatically, especially after a shock of some kind. He was pretty sure being whipped for hours on end would be counted as a shock. Making up his mind, Tom took off the jacket the Scorpia agents had been kind enough to thrust at him, and laid it gently on Desiree's back. There wasn't much he could do about the coldness of the concrete floor, but the jacket would be something.

Tom leant back against the wall. He really hoped that Alex would get them soon. Who knew what they would do to Dessi the next time they came.

* * *

It was 1:45 pm. All five agents had retreated from their various scouting positions. None of them had been discovered. And for that, Alex let out a deep sigh of relief. Now they all gathered in the back of the van, listening as each individual gave their reports. Alex zoned out again. He knew he shouldn't have, but he also knew that Blunt would be repeating everything they were saying when he briefed the rescue unit.

The boy jerked back into reality when he heard Crawley mentioning Dessi's name. "…guards dragged Desiree back, and she was a bloody mess. Looked like she'd been tortured. Whips would've been my guess judging by the state of her shirt. There was a trail of blood behind her…" Crawley shuddered slightly.

None of the agents saw Alex freeze. They were all too intent on the details of the scouting. Alex's brown eyes widened slightly in horror, and he stared at a point just above Crawley's head, replaying what the agent had just said. Desiree's being tortured! And he had no idea what, if anything, was happening to Tom. They had to get them out!

With a sinking feeling, Alex realised that it would be at least another four hours before the two captured teens got any help. He didn't know how long his friends could hold up for, but four hours seemed to be pushing it.

Rose looked up as Alex tapped her lightly on the shoulder. She'd been intent on Garnett's description of the cell in which Tom and Dessi were being held, having snuck in after Desiree had been dragged back in. Rose looked at Alex, who whispered into her ear that he needed to "go behind a tree since they didn't put toilets on the van". Despite the situation, she cracked a small smile, and moved slightly to allow the boy to get out of the van.

Agent Ibsen took over the report, briefly indicating the areas which he found guards patrolling. There was a lack of security cameras; Scorpia knew well the threat they could pose if their enemies managed to hack into their security system, so the criminal organisation were apparently not taking any chances. It wasn't until Agent Creelman began talking that Rose checked her watch and realise that a certain blonde haired boy had yet to return.

"Hey, where's Alex?"Apparently she wasn't the only one to realise, when Agent Alving looked up and saw that the boy was gone.

"He said he was going to, um, empty his bladder," Rose replied.

"How long ago did he say that?" Agent Garnett asked.

"Fifteen minutes ago…"

At once the six agents were out of the van. They kept low, trying to avoid suspicion since they were still within viewing distance of the place where Scorpia were holding the two teens. The MI6 agents began a systematic search, calling out Alex's name as loudly as they dared to. After five minutes they met up again. The news was grim.

Alex Rider had gone missing.

* * *

_Cliffy!!! Sorry about that, but it seemed like a good place to end it._

_Anyways, how did you all like that chapter? Was it good? Did it suck? Please enlighten me with an awesome __**review**__!!!_

_Also, how was the torture scene? Hopefully not too graphic or anything. This is my first shot at writing torture stuff, so please let me know how you liked it, and how I can improve it!!!_

_Don't forget to review!_

_Love Chariots99_

_**IMPORTANT QUESTION THINGIE:**__ I have an idea to finish this story off with a dinner dance in Alex's school, but since I'm not from England, I have no idea how they operate. So, anyone who __**is**__ from England, or who actually knows about this stuff, can you please tell me…would schools actually hold this kind of events for year tens/elevens (whichever one Alex is in)? Also, would it be like formal dress, or just neat/casual?_


	12. A Small Revelation

_**THE NEW SYSTEM!!!**__ Right, the new system is where the more reviews I get, the faster I upload. If I get twenty or more reviews, I upload the very next day!_

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan)._

_Oh, and __**SPECIAL MENTIONS**__ have to go __to __**Wolfmonster**__for writing the longest review I've ever received! Thanks to all my other loyal reviewers! You guys rock!_

_**Chapter 12**_

They stood at opposite ends of the field, located just outside the holding cell of Tom and Desiree. Alex stood at one end, far enough away so that he could run for it if Scorpia didn't hold up their end of the bargain. At the other end stood William, two guards and Tom. The boy was staring at Alex, not quite sure if his friend was stupid enough to actually give himself up just to save Tom.

Alex started walking towards the group and Tom, with a shove in the back from one of the guards that almost sent him face planting into the ground, started walking towards Alex. The teenage spy couldn't help but be reminded of that video he'd been shown two years ago, of that day on the bridge with his father's faked death…

Alex and Tom passed each other in the middle. Tom glared at Alex, his expression clearly questioning the sanity of his friend. Alex merely gave him a small smile, reassuring him that he had everything under control. The teenage spy casually tilted his head in the direction of the MI6 van, and Tom nodded very slightly in understanding. The two boys knew better than to make obvious movements in front of Scorpia.

Tom reached the other side and paused, glancing back at his best friend, before turning and hurrying away in the direction Alex had pointed out. He knew that he'd have to inform MI6 of what Alex had done, and he knew that it wasn't going to be pretty. Spotting a van with people crowding around outside, he slowed. Then, recognising one of the six people as Agent Crawley, renewed his pace and made a beeline for them.

Alex let out a small sigh of relief when Tom was allowed away safely. If he was completely honest, he wouldn't have put it past Scorpia to shoot Tom at the last minute. But then again, Scorpia weren't stupid. They knew that they wouldn't have gained anything from killing the spy's friend, as Alex would then be so furious that he'd probably take out the rest of Scorpia's agents. Singlehandedly.

As soon as Alex was within grabbing distance, the two guards lunged towards him, one of them pinning down his arms and the other securing them behind the boy's back. Alex didn't even bother flinching; he was too busy glaring at William whom he figured was the one responsible for the kidnappings. The man stared calmly back, watching from behind a well rehearsed mask of indifference.

"Alex Rider," he finally said, after the boy had been fully secured with two handcuffs and a heavily knotted length of rope. Apparently, they weren't taking any chances, "It's good to have you with us, and to finally meet the boy whom was the downfall of at least two of our board members."

"They weren't that hard to kill," Alex said.

"Maybe so, but I think congratulations are in order. Of course I personally knew Julia, and to some extent liked her too. She was as much a friend as you can get in my business."

"Oh, my bad. Sorry for killing you're only friend! If I'd known you were a loner I'd have spared the woman who was about to kill every kid in the country," Alex drawled, his voice dripping with sarcasm. William smirked, then moved so fast Alex didn't even have time to respond. The man punched him full-force in the throat, and Alex jerked forwards as far as he could, choking. For several tense moments, the boy struggled to breathe through his coughing and spluttering.

"You'll learn soon enough that I don't tolerate cheek. Especially when they're from ignorant, good for nothing children. Take him away," William added, and the two guards proceeded to drag the still choking Alex towards the cell which had been "specially prepared" for him. In other words, made as escape proof as was humanely possible.

William gazed after them for a while, then entered through another door, navigating the twisted corridors until he found himself standing in front of Desiree's cell. Smirking slightly, he drew back the bolts, then pulled open the heavy door.

Desiree still lay crumpled on the floor, several of her wounds bleeding sluggishly. She'd regained consciousness a few seconds before William had ordered his guards to grab Tom. Dessi had been jerked slightly away from the boy, and the movement had reopened some of her wounds. Now she tilted her head up slightly so that she could see who was at the door. Upon finding William, she gave him the best glare she could under the circumstances, and allowed her head to drop back onto the concrete floor of the cell.

"Well, well, well," William drawled, "Looks like someone's not happy to see me. Oh well."

William walked towards the limp girl, and then knelt by her head. Dessi didn't even bother to respond. Truth be told, she couldn't exactly find the energy to struggle away from the Scorpia agent, so she just lay there.

"You know," William whispered, cupping one of his hands under Desiree's chin and forcing her head up so he could actually see her face, "Things would be so much easier on you if you just gave in. You know you want to," he added, tenderly stroking her bruised cheek.

"Yeah, when Hell freezes over," the girl rasped out, her voice extremely soft from her exhaustion.

The man chuckled quietly, though without humour. "Have it your way then," he said, patting the girl's cheek and standing. He left the cell, pausing only briefly to glance back at the defeated girl. As he passed through the guard room, he indicated for the three men to "have fun", and reminded them that Dessi had to still be alive when he got back. Then he turned out of the room to pay a little visit to their "guest of honour".

The three guards waited for William to leave, before setting off to the cell with excitement. It had been a while since they'd had a human punching bag, and being the sadistic men that they were, revelling in someone else's pain was their favourite form of entertainment.

William pushed open the door to Alex's cell. The boy had been tied down extremely securely to a chair, his captors not taking any risks. The highly uncomfortable chair had been placed in the centre of the dimly lit room.

"Ah, Alex Rider, our honoured guest," William smirked. Alex glared at the man, unable to move anything except his head, "You know, when our intelligence first suggested that MI6 was using a teenage boy to do all their dirty work, I thought that our sources had been corrupted and had them all killed. But when the same report kept coming back again and again…Then you went and killed two of our board members. You have no idea how badly I've wanted to meet you, and now here you are!"

"It's great to be here too, all tied up and that you know," Alex said sarcastically.

"Oh, you children, always like to joke around. But tell me Alex, how is it that you became recruited into MI6? I know that your uncle was an agent, as well as your godfather Ash, though he deferred into Scorpia." At the mention of Ash, Alex's traitorous godfather, the teenage spy froze, and scowled heavily at William. Alex was perfectly happy to just live the rest of his life without ever hearing Ash's name again, however it appeared that that was not going to be the case.

When it became apparent that Alex wasn't going to answer the question, William sighed and began pacing in front of the blonde boy.

"You know," he said, his eyes never leaving the teenage spy's face as he walked around, "You're not the first kid whose been recruited into this world. Nor will you be the last. But still, the CIA attempted to put a teenage boy out onto the field! Such copy cats! Well, the boy was killed. I can _personally_ vouch for that," William smirked when he saw a flicker of recognition and understanding pass through the boy's eyes, ""You on the other hand, being the son of the famous John Rider and all…well, I sure as hell wasn't about to kill you! In fact it was rather fun, hearing all about your, ah, _adventures_. Kept me entertained to say the least-"

"Are you going to kill me now? Because I'd rather you get it over and done with instead of just boring me to death," Alex interjected. He was backhanded across his face for the effort. Alex gasped in pain, before turning back and glaring at William again, his face stinging like hell.

"You are just like Desiree; both of you just don't seem to understand that I don't take cheek, especially not from good for nothing children," William spat, before resuming his pacing.

"What do you want from me?" Alex demanded. He had no idea why he was being held prisoner in the first place. Well, he did ruin Major Yu's operation, but that had been two years ago for crying out loud!

"What do I want from you?" William repeated, "Well, I want to meet you of course. You have to imagine my excitement when I first found out that Desiree wasn't the only teenage spy in the world."

Alex froze. "You know Dessi?"

William smirked. "Oh, I more than just know her. You see, for a while before I moved to England, but after I left America, I lived in Australia. Sydney first, but then I found it too noisy, so I moved across to the rather remote city of Perth. There, I signed onto Australia's foster care system. Then when Dessi was put into the foster system, I volunteered immediately to take the girl. She was just too much of a catch, if you know what I mean.

"I was her first foster family, all the way back when she was just six years old."

* * *

They were gathered in one of MI6's larger briefing rooms. K-unit was present, as well as D-unit and M-unit. Also there were Agents Crawley, Allende, Garnett, Ibsen, Alving, Creelman, Daniels and Banks. Oh, and Tom Harris too, who had refused point blank on going to St Dominic's for a check up, insisting that he wanted to help rescue his friend. Jake was still in hospital, along with the rather hysterical Jack, but both Ben and Andrew had been discharged. Right now, the twenty people were listening to Mrs Jones as she went through the intelligence which had been gathered on the scouting trip.

Agent Rose Allende listened with only half her mind. The other half was crippled with worry. In the few short hours which she'd spent time with him, Rose found herself taking a real liking to Alex. Perhaps because the boy was so similar to her deceased younger brother. When they found that he'd gone missing, she'd been frantic with worry. She had also felt an overwhelming sense of guilt, because she thought that if she figured out Alex's missing presence sooner, maybe the boy would still be with them.

Matters were not helped when half an hour later Tom turned up, telling them that his best friend had officially gone mad and given himself up for Tom. Rose bit her lip in worry. She didn't want to know what was happening to Alex, but hoped with all her heart he wouldn't be facing the same treatment as the other kidnapped teen. Tom had taken it upon himself to describe, in highly graphical detail, the extent of Desiree's injuries.

"…And D and M-units will be surrounding the compound in case any of Scorpia's agents manage to escape the infiltration unit," Mrs Jones said, "You are to cover all the exits, to make sure that we don't have any escapees."

The eight soldiers nodded.

"And I want any escaped agents to be taken _alive_," Mrs Jones stressed the word. This whole incident with Scorpia had allowed MI6 to take custody of a huge number of Scorpia's agents. A few more wouldn't hurt, at least until they found a way to make those agents whom they _did_ have custody of talk.

"All of you will be armed with live bullets, so please exercise your judgement and _not_ everyone just because you feel like it," Jones strained. Apparently, she didn't want to deal with dead bodies, at least not if she could help it. Dead bodies mean a whole load of paperwork, and she had enough on her plate as it is.

"You will all be on the lookout for these two teenagers," Here Mrs Jones put up two pictures onto the projection screen. The picture on the left was of a blonde haired brown eyed boy, while on the right was a blonde haired girl with crystal blue eyes. The picture of the girl was quite fuzzy; it actually came from Dessi's "passport", which they had to enlarge and transfer into the MI6 database since MI6 didn't have any previous photos of the girl.

"These two are your main priority," Mrs Jones went on, "Do whatever it takes to make sure they get out alive. And if anyone so much as _thinks_ about aiming at them, not only will MI6 be after their head, but the Australian Intelligence will be after the rest of their body too."

The people gathered stared in shock at Mrs Jones. They were all asking themselves the same question; _Did that woman just make a threat?_ It was widely known that Mrs Jones was the nicer one of the two heads of Special Operations, so if she had to make a threat…

"Are there any questions?" Mrs Jones asked. The twenty people shook their heads. "Good. Mr Smithers will be up shortly to arm you all. Good luck." With that, the second in command of MI6's Special Operations turned and left the room.

Tom sidled closer to Rose, whom he thought was the only agent in the room who actually looked at him with a friendly expression. Rose looked up as the boy plopped himself down on a seat opposite her, and she gave him a warm smile.

"How old are you?" Tom asked. Well, the boy wasn't exactly known for his tact.

Rose looked slightly taken aback at his bluntness. "Twenty two. You?"

"Sixteen."

"Why did you ask?"

Tom smirked. "Because you make everyone in this room, well aside from me, look like they're eighty," he said, not bothering to keep his voice down, and thus getting a _lot_ of sour looks from the agents and soldiers present.

"Is that so?" Rose laughed, and they sour looks were then directed in her direction, "You know your friend asked me the exact same question when-" she broke off, remembering what had taken place right after the conclusion of the scouting mission.

Tom nodded, his expression slightly sad. He knew what she was thinking of, and why she'd broken off mid sentence. "Well you know what they say, great minds think alike," he said in an attempt to cheer the both of them up.

Rose giggled quietly. She was starting to like this kid too. At that moment, Mr Smithers bustled into the room, holding a large box that was no doubt filled with the weapons they were to use on the rescue mission. He gave them all a broad grin, and proceeded to hand out the guns. The larger military styled ones were given to the SAS soldiers, while the smaller pistols were given to the MI6 agents. Finally Smithers turned to Tom, and raised his eyebrow at the boy.

"I don't think it's legal to give someone as young as you a gun," Smithers said in a good natured voice.

Tom grinned. "Don't worry, I can fight them off with my awesome kung fu ninja skills!" Everyone within hearing distance of the boy started laughing, Mr Smithers perhaps the loudest.

"That's a good one!" Rose exclaimed, gasping for breath.

"You're a funny one, kid," Smithers chuckled, patting Tom on the head.

"Thanks," Tom grinned wryly.

"Alright, I think we better get moving," Agent John Crawley said, standing and gesturing towards the door. The room sobered up almost immediately as they all remembered the reason they were there. Tom followed Rose and Ben out of the room, down the lift and into one of the five waiting cars outside. He would be sharing the car with Rose, Ben and Andrew.

The sun was already setting by the time Andrew turned on the ignition and pulled out, following the not very conspicuous MI6 issued car ahead of him, while behind him the other three cars followed in a line. All the cars were black. Tom shook his head slightly; they may as well have put up banners that boldly declared "Hey Scorpia! We're MI6 and we're coming to get you!"

Rose settled into her seat and looked across at Tom. "You may want to get some sleep while you can, it's going to be a long night, and the trip will take at least an hour."

"I'll just be staying in the car though, won't I?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, but you'll still feel the adrenaline rush, and if that doesn't keep you awake, I'm sure you'll hear gunshots too."

"Great," Tom mumbled. He shifted, leaning his head against the door frame trying to get comfortable. There was a short silence in the car. Andrew was concentrating hard on not losing the black car in front of him. Ben had fallen asleep, his mouth hanging open. If it weren't for the seriousness of the situation, Tom would've never let the man live it down.

There was a soft click beside him, and Tom turned to see Rose with her phone out, taking a photo of her fellow colleague. She saw the boy's questioning look, and shrugged.

"I always need blackmail material," she said. Tom smirked and nodded.

"Do you think that they'll be alright?" He asked. He hadn't wanted to say anything, he really didn't want to know, but he just couldn't help it. After what he saw them do to Dessi…well, he was hoping against hope that she was alright. That _they _were both alright.

Rose bit her lip in worry. "I hope so," she answered softly, "As long as they don't give up. As long as they just hang in there for a little longer."

Tom nodded. He hoped that his two friends would be able to hold on for that long. _We're coming guys_, he thought grimly, _Just a little longer. Please, for the love of God, don't give in._

Outside, the sun dipped below the horizon, and the sky lit up with stars.

* * *

_Ooooh, another cliffie! Okay, I don't know why the ending was slightly poetic. _

_So anyways, how did you all like that chapter? Was it good? Did it suck? _

_And how about William's revelation about the whole foster family thing. Did any of you see that coming?_

_Please __**review**__! It really makes me so very happy!_

_Love Chariots99_


	13. To The Rescue, Or Not

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan), and any other characters you don't recognise from the Alex Rider series._

**Chapter 13**

Alex gasped for air, his arms stinging and his body trembling uncontrollably. He had now officially changed his opinion of tasers, and vowed never, ever, _ever_ to laugh at anyone who got tasered on TV now. To have all that electricity running through your body…well, it was not an experience he wanted to repeat in a hurry. If at all.

He sat with his back to the cold wall, sweat pouring down his face as his body reacted to the aftermath of the pain. He was facing the direction of the door that he couldn't see. The sun had long since set, and now his cell was pitch black.

After William had revealed a little more of Desiree's past, he'd ordered for Alex to be cut loose and dragged to another room. This one had its walls pretty much lined with torture implements, from whips to knives and finally, electrical devices. Including a smaller more powerful version of the police tasers. There were two chains hanging from the ceiling, and a puddle of blood on the floor.

Alex shuddered as he remembered the blood. It was still wet, fresh. The boy was sure that whoever had spilt the blood had done so that very day.

The teenage spy had put up a struggle when the guards tried to tie his arms to the chain; it was only a rather painful punch to his exposed stomach that allowed the guards to actually get the job done. After that, William had paced around Alex for a bit. The boy wasn't sure what the Scorpia agent had said to him, having zoned out to block off his drawling voice. He'd only zoned in every so often to make annoying comments to the man.

Alex sighed, leaning his head back against the cold wall. He had no idea how long he'd been here, locked in this cell, and trapped in this place. But then again he supposed that he probably didn't want to know either.

William had apparently been asking the boy questions about MI6, and in the end had gotten fed up with the boy's silence. He'd gone over to the wall and picked up the taser, which he'd then applied directly to the base of Alex's neck. The teenage spy was not a stranger to pain, but that was the worst pain he'd ever felt in his life. It was as if he'd been lit on fire, while a thousand knives pierced his flesh. The boy tried not to make any noise, but in the end he couldn't stop himself crying out in pain.

The taser was pressed to his body for so long that eventually he'd blacked out from the pain. When he woke up, he found himself in the cell. The sun had still been up, so he could still see, but he really wished he couldn't. There was another puddle of blood on the floor, as well as a bucket, which contained water that was a bloody red colour. Alex had no doubt that the blood in this cell was from the same person who'd spilt the blood in the torture room.

The sun had set slowly, extinguishing all light from the cell.

Alex sighed again. His muscles had stopped trembling from the after affects of the pain, but his throat hurt like hell from all his yelling. Lifting a hand, he wiped the sweat off his forehead. He felt really weak, but at least he was able to move around. He only hoped that MI6 were planning on actually rescuing them today. Or tonight, since the sun had already set.

With nothing else to dwell on, the teenage spy's thoughts turned back to Desiree. After Alex had been thrown, quite literally, into this cell, William had informed him that he had some 'unfinished business' to deal with before he left. Alex sincerely hoped that the man wasn't talking about Desiree.

The Australian girl seemed to be able to attract trouble far better than he'd ever done. Alex couldn't believe that the girl was unfortunate enough to have encountered William before this, much less have the sadistic man as her first foster family. And Alex thought that _he_ was unlucky, what with having dead parents killed by his traitorous dead godfather, and a dead uncle who was killed by a dead assassin who was friends with his dead father who had been a double agent, whom a dead Scorpia board member used to have a crush on, which had then caused her to want to kill Alex (along with every other kid in the country) which had ultimately caused her to become dead. Wow, talk about a complicated life.

Alex ruffled his sweat-soaked hair with a sigh as he wondered about the Desiree. Where was she? Was she alright? Okay she probably wasn't alright, not after what she had to go through at the hands of William, but was she alive? No, she had to be alive. Alex refused to think of the other possibility. He had a firm grip on his mind _not_ to wander down that lane. All the same though. _What if she was gone? What if he could never see her again, never see her smile, or look into her crystal blue eyes, or hear her laugh, or…_? Alex growled at himself to shut the hell up.

The teenage spy groaned out loud in frustration, toying with the watch that William had carelessly overlooked, the watch that had to ability to hopefully blast open the door to the cell. Hopefully Dessi still had her bracelet on. That would at least give her a chance at escaping. He himself wanted to escape, but since he cell was pitch black, he couldn't see a thing. It would all be guess work. He knew that there was no way he could escape through the roof; there'd been enough time when the sun was up to see that even if he _could_ reach it, he couldn't open it or blow it apart.

That just left the extremely secure door. Even if he got out of that, there was the guard room which he'd been dragged through. In his weakened state, he very much doubted his ability to take out those three guards, and still live. Alex growled in frustration, swearing under his breath before stopping due to the pain in his throat.

How he wished MI6 had the ability to act a _little_ more quickly sometimes. Not that he was asking too much, but since it _was_ his life on the line, he was allowed to be a little frustrated at them.

* * *

It was nearing midnight when they were _finally_ ready. And by ready, he meant understood where they were actually going. Tom was beside himself with anger and frustration at how annoyingly _slow_ the MI6 agents and SAS soldiers moved. Didn't they _realise_ that Desiree's and Alex's _lives_ were on the line? Obviously not, with the way they took forever just to _unload_ the freakin' cars!

The boy sat back in his seat with a frustrated sigh. He was supposed to stay in the car for the duration of the rescue, along with Agent Andrew Banks who was acting as the 'base' and coordinating the rescue, since he couldn't move without pain yet. Rose was right; with the adrenaline pumping through him at the thought of the others going in for the rescue, the boy couldn't stop fidgeting let alone fall asleep.

Agent Rose Allende had given Tom an earpiece to wear, along with a throat microphone in case he needed to contact them. Later he'd been told that the mic was for "emergency purposes only", but Agent Crawley had only yelled that to him after he kept using the mic to shout at the MI6 agents and SAS soldiers to "hurry the hell up", which had amused Andrew to no end. At least he could hear what was going on through the earpiece. Otherwise he'd have been even more in the dark. Tom zoned back into the muttered responses when his friend's name was mentioned.

"…Alex's heat signal detected in east holding cell. Appears to be the same one used to hold Miss Swan and Mr Harris earlier today. Over," Andrew said, eyeing the monitor screen which showed a red heat signal apparently leaning against the wall. They had to use heat signals to find the exact location of each person inside the compound, since the GPS locator placed inside Alex's watch and Desiree's bracelet only allowed accuracy within a ten metre radius. They were used to make sure that the two were still in the general vicinity of the compound.

"_Base this is Wolf. We're making our way towards the east holding cell with Fox. Over."_

"Copy that Wolf. No shooting to kill unless absolutely necessary. Remember your orders. Good luck. Over and out."

"_Base this is Blossom. We're about to enter the west wing to look for signs of any agents as well as the girl. Over."_

Tom snickered slightly and Banks threw him an amused look. He'd been told earlier by Rose about who had what code names. She'd been extremely annoyed when she said that her own was 'Blossom', and had given the boy a _look_ that had clearly said don't-even-_think-_ about-laughing-_or-else._ Although, if he was completely honest, Agent Crawley's code name was far more hilarious.

"Blossom this is base. Good luck, over and out."

Banks looked extremely harassed as he searched his monitor for signs of other life. It only came up with Alex's and the three in the guarding room's heat signal, and no matter what, Banks could only seem to find the boy. After all the trouble they went to get to him, Andrew couldn't believe that Scorpia would leave the boy so unguarded. What was even more troubling than Scorpia's apparent lack of security, was the fact that the girl simply could not be located.

"_Base this is Lion. We're all in position surrounding the compound. Over."_

"Lion this is base. Reminding you again that your unit and M-Unit must not under any circumstance shoot to kill, unless it is absolutely necessary. Remember your orders. Good luck. Over," Andrew Banks said into his headpiece.

"_Base this Lion. Copy that. Over and out."_

Andrew sighed, looking over the monitor for the hundredth time. He was still unable to find any sign of the girl, despite her GPS location not moving from the compound. He hoped that the others had better luck finding her, since there was a possibility that Scorpia were blocking her signal from MI6's monitors. Of course there was another possible explanation, but Banks didn't _really_ want to accept that one just yet.

"Where's Desiree?" Tom whispered to the agent. Banks started and turned to the boy, who had been craning his neck around to look at the monitor. Tom could only make out four heat signals, three of them too big to be teenagers, and the one in the cell he had been held in earlier had already been labelled 'A. Rider'.

Andrew let out a sigh. "Don't know. She's not on the screen for some reason…"

Tom frowned. "There aren't a lot of people on the screen," he said, "There were definitely three more when I was there. Two guards who took Dessi away, and some guy who I'm pretty sure was in charge of the whole thing."

Agent Banks nodded, and began typing furiously on the keypad. The screen turned blank, then the heat signals appeared again. It still only showed four of them. "This is so _frustrating_," he growled, refreshing the monitor again. Still the same result showed up.

Andrew sighed, then pulled out another laptop, making Tom hold onto the first one with the heat signals. Banks began furiously typing again, and soon the new laptop was covered with rows upon rows of random codes and numbers, interspersed with symbols. As Andrew typed, more and more rows appeared. Tom watched, transfixed, as the MI6 agent hacked into any and every computerised signal within a twenty metre radius of the compound.

Many of the rows of symbols were discarded, and they flew to the side. Some were kept a little longer before also being pushed away. In the end, Banks had only a few rows left, which Tom assumed were potential Scorpia signals which they could be using to scatter the heat signals of Desiree, William and the two guards.

More furious typing, and another row was discarded. Banks paused, his brows furrowing in thought, before he typed out another command and another row flew to the side. It pretty much continued in this fashion, until the MI6 agent had only two rows left. No matter what he did, those two rows refused to cut down to one.

Tom watched on in fascination, wondering what was going on. From the swearing and muttering that Banks was doing under his breath, it appeared that the MI6 agent could do nothing that would allow him to hack into either of the last two signals, which meant that there was no way he could know which one belonged to Scorpia, and which one belonged to some extremely nerdy kid whose computer signal was being bounced around close by the compound.

At last, Agent Banks sighed in frustration. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a phone similar to the one Alex had been given on his birthday. Tapping a couple of buttons on the touch screen, he put the phone to his ear, tapping his fingers in frustration as he waited for someone to pick up. After a couple of rings, someone did.

"Ah, yes, this is Agent Andrew Banks. I need to speak with Mr Smithers immediately."

Tom watched on as the MI6 agent was probably connected to the gadget master.

"Yes, hi Smithers. I need your help…"

From then on, Tom had no idea what Andrew was saying, or what Smithers was saying in reply. All the boy knew was that Andrew and Smithers understood each other. The MI6 resumed his typing with renewed vigour, the phone tucked between his ear and his shoulder. For several tense minutes, there was only the sound of the keyboard clicking away, and Banks muttering some incoherent sentence to Smithers.

Then finally, they had success. Another row flew away, and the MI6 agent was left with the only signal that could possibly be used by Scorpia. Banks barely had time to celebrate before Smithers started telling him how to hack past the signal so that they could locate the girl.

Tom watched the laptop he'd been given to hold with interest. He could see five people, whom he assumed were K-unit and Ben, making their way steadily towards the three heat signals that obviously belonged to the men in the guard room. He saw when the two groups collided. After a few tense seconds, five people continued along to where Alex's heat signal lay. Before long, a message came through his earpiece.

"_Base, this is Fox. We have Cub. Repeat, we have Cub. We are now retreating from the east holding cells. The three guards have been knocked out, and will be taken with us. Over."_

Tom punched the air in victory. _They had Alex!_ The boy grinned, resisting the urge to get up and dance, but he couldn't help the waves of joy and relief that washed over him. Andrew hastily told Smithers to hold on for a sec, before turning on his mic.

"Fox, this is base. Good job. Now get out. Over."

There was a soft chuckle from the other side before Ben replied, "_Base this is Fox. Copy that. Over and out."_

Andrew sighed with relief. Well, that was one teen out. Now to locate the last one…He tucked the phone back under his head, and began his furious typing again. Tom followed the heat signals as they stopped by the guard room and picked up the three unconscious men. They left the corridor the same way they went in, and a few moments later exited the compound altogether.

Tom watched as they met with who he assumed were D-unit, though it could have been M-unit. Snake reported in that they'd passed the three guards onto Lion and his unit. Banks glanced at Tom, telling the boy to take over the commands since he was so close to actually hacking past Scorpia's signals.

Tom nodded and turned his mic on.

"Hey Snake, this is base," he said, enjoying the moment of stunned silence when Snake recognised the boy's voice, "How's A-Cub? Over."

"_Er, hey base, this is Snake. Cub is refusing to leave quietly and is demanding we take him with us for the next step. Over."_ Tom could hear Alex's voice arguing in the background, along with another voice that he couldn't recognise.

Tom glanced at Banks, who nodded wordlessly; he'd heard the request behind the report.

"Snake this is Base. You have permission to take Al-Cub with you. Over," Tom said, mentally berating himself for almost using Alex's real name twice.

"_Base, this is Snake. Copy that,_" there was a sudden muffled yell in the background. Then, "_Cub has been given a shot of adrenaline to get him through. Over and out."_

Tom grinned. Alex had endured assassins, bullets and mad men trying to blow him up, and yet the teenage spy still complained quite frequently that injections came with the worst pain he had to go through. Even compared to bullets almost going through your heart.

The boy watched as the six heat signals of Wolf, Eagle, Snake, Shark, Ben and Alex crept back into the compound. They second part of the plan was for K-unit and Ben, and now Alex, to join the other agents in the west wing, since during their scouting mission they had determined that most of Scorpia's guards and agents that were on the compound spent their time in the west wing. If they were still there, then it would take all of them to bring them down.

"Blossom, this is base," Tom said, "The K is coming to join you guys now, as well as Cub. Over."

"_Base this is Blossom. Copy that, we're falling back now. Over and out."_

Watching as K-unit, Ben and Alex joined up with the other agents, Tom briefly crossed his fingers as h wished them luck. Andrew had yet to hack past the heat signals, so they would be going in blind.

The group of agents and SAS soldiers crept forwards. Their heat signals faded as they entered the area which Scorpia's signals were blocking. Tom bit his lip, looking across worriedly at Andrew who was furiously typing away. _Come on….._

Suddenly, Andrew pressed a key down with a sense of finality, and then lifting his hand off the keyboard with a flourish. The screen was suddenly and rapidly filling with numbers. Andrew thanked Smithers and hung up, putting the phone back into his pocket before turning his mic back on. Both he and Tom turned their attentions back to the laptop which Tom held, holding their breaths.

One by one, the heat signals of their agents reappeared on the screen. Andrew smiled in triumph. Then abruptly, his smile slid off his face. Both he and Tom's expressions changed to ones of utter horror as they watched the monitor reveal more and more of the previously blocked areas. Andrew grabbed at his mic in panic.

"All agents, this is base. Pull out, _pull out_ NOW! It's a trap! _Get out_, GET OUT!"

* * *

_Oooooh! What happened??? What's going to happen??? And why has no-one seen Desiree at all???_

_You guys know the drill. The more reviews I get, the faster I upload!!! _

_So, did you like that chapter? Was it good? Suspenseful? Or really and horribly bad? Tell me what you think in a __**review**__!!! And remember, __**anonymous reviews accepted**__!!! I just won't be able to personally reply to you._

_Anyways, toodles, and don't forget to review!  
Love Chariots99_

_Ps – I know nothing about hacking stuff, so if you do, then you're welcomed to tell me what it would look like. In the mean time, just pretend for the sake of my sanity that my imagination is correct._


	14. Epic Fail

_**Sorry for the (exceptionally long) wait – my university offers came out. Guess what?! I GOT INTO MEDICINE!!! Anyways, the whole enrolment process took up like all my time…hope this chapter makes up for it!**_

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan), and any other characters you don't recognise from the Alex Rider series._

_Oh, and thanks to my anonymous reviewer __**SqweekA**__ for your very flattering reviews for both this story and the one before it. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

**Chapter 14**

If he was completely honest with himself, there was no way Alex expected for K-unit and Ben to be able to rescue him without the boy even hearing any commotion. They'd disarmed and knocked out the three men in the guarding room so fast that Alex doubted the now unconscious men had any time to react to the attack.

Alex ran alongside Ben as Wolf, Eagle and Shark each dragged along one of the three unconscious guards. Snake led the way out of the compound and out into the dark. They met up with four men who made up D-unit, according to Ben's whisper. Wolf, Eagle and Shark handed over their captives. Ben pushed Alex towards the men, and the boy walked a few steps before realising that K-unit were planning to go back in to get Desiree.

He abruptly stopped.

"I'm coming with you," he whispered.

"No way in hell," Wolf growled. The light in the guard room had revealed Alex's exhausted form. He was still weak from the electricity which had coursed through his body, and could hardly keep up with the men. But he was adamant about this.

"I'm coming with you," he repeated, "Dessi is my friend, and she is in trouble. You're going to need all the help you can get, and at least I _know_ what Scorpia are capable of."

"You can barely stand on your feet!" Wolf hissed, "Look, you're leaning against Fox right now! If you came, you'd just be putting yourself at risk!"

The argument went on for a few seconds before Snake interrupted the two.

"Cub just got permission to come," Snake said. Alex grinned in triumph while Wolf growled at him, probably cursing the hell out of the boy. Shark and Eagle moved forwards just as Ben grabbed Alex and pinned his arms by his side. Snake reported back to base.

"Hey, what-AARRGH!!!" Alex's shout was muffled by Eagle, who cupped his hands around the teenage spy's mouth just in time. Shark had just jabbed the boy with a shot of adrenaline; it was the only thing that could get him through the ordeal to come. The adrenaline would mask the boy's pains and allow him to keep up and fight with the others. This way, he wouldn't get himself killed for being out of energy. But the thick needle hurt like _hell_.

"Honestly Alex, you think this hurts?" Ben asked in disbelief, though there was a teasing tone to his voice. Snake, Shark, Eagle and D-unit sniggered softly, and Wolf had a small smile on his face that no-one could see in the dark.

Alex scowled at them all, another expression which couldn't be seen due to the non-existent light surrounding them. One of the men on D-unit placed something on Alex's ear. The teenage spy waited until the man had removed his hand before using his own to inspect it. It was an earpiece. Well, now he could listen to the orders that were being given. Alex nodded his thanks at the man, before turning to leave. It was then that he realised the man probably couldn't have seen his thanks in the dark. Damn it.

The six people crept back into the compound. This time they turned in the opposite direction, going down a corridor that Alex had yet to see. This corridor branched out into two hallways. Wolf gestured for them to go left. At the end of the rather short hallway was an opened door, which they entered in single file. Wolf first, then Eagle, Snake and Shark. Alex was about to go through when Ben stopped him. The teenage spy turned with a questioning look, only to have Ben thrust his spare pistol into Alex's hand.

Alex raised his eyebrows slightly, before realising that Ben had his gun out. Looking back, the teenage spy saw that the rest of K-unit were also armed, though their guns were slightly larger than his. Nodding his thanks at the MI6 agent, Alex went through the door.

The six people crept further along, before they met up with six familiar MI6 agents. Agents Allende, Crawley, Ibsen, Alving, Garnett and Creelman. Upon seeing the teenage spy, Agent Rose Allende's expression lit up and she hurried over to the boy, enveloping him into a tight hug. Before letting go. Though they weren't allowed to even whisper, Alex understood the message which the hug had conveyed, and smiled in appreciation at Rose.

The twelve people crept further down the hall together. There was a single door at the end, which the six MI6 agents had previously already gone through before they had to double back for them. Now all twelve people stepped through the door, their guns all drawn and held at the ready. They were in another hall, this one quite short, though there were two doors that lined the walls and another right at the end. Agent Crawley indicated that they hadn't had time to check out the end doors, but the two on the wall were clear.

Wolf and Agent Allende led the way to the end of the hall, where Rose opened the door and Wolf passed through it. Soon, everyone else had gone through the door. And surprisingly, they weren't in another hallway.

They were actually in a room, with a bare table in the far corner. But no chairs. Each of the four walls had at least one door, bar the wall directly opposite the group. The wall on the right actually had three. Unsure of which door they should try first, Wolf pointed to the one furtherest away from them on the right wall.

The six MI6 agents, four SAS soldiers, one SAS soldier turned MI6 agent and one teenage spy all nodded in agreement, and together the twelve of them crept towards the chosen door. They were in the middle of the room when simultaneously, all their earpieces crackled to life with Agent Andrew's frantic voice literally shouting at them, "All agents, this is base. Pull out, _pull out_ NOW! It's a trap! _Get out_, GET OUT!"

And suddenly, all hell broke loose.

* * *

When the heat signals of their agents and SAS soldiers began reappearing on the screen, Andrew almost felt like dancing around for joy. Instead he settled for a triumphant grin. He looked across at Tom to see a similar expression on his face. It was then that he tempted fate. _This was going so well!_ He thought. Famous last words.

For suddenly, the heat signals of all the Scorpia agents showed up too. Andrew's triumphant smile slid off his face, to be replaced by an expression of upmost horror. The room in which the MI6 agents and SAS soldiers were in had been completely surrounded. On all sides, except for the direction in which the twelve had come from, there were at least thirty people just waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting MI6 agents and SAS soldiers. And judging from their heat signals, they were all armed.

In panic, Andrew grabbed at his mic. He knew it was too late, but if he could just get a warning out…maybe they had a slight chance.

"All agents, this is base. Pull out, _pull out_ NOW! It's a trap! _Get out_, GET OUT!"

* * *

It was chaos. Complete and utter chaos.

Exactly two and a half seconds after Agent Andrew Banks' panicked warning, every single door (bar the one they had come through) burst open. A hail of bullets flew towards the group. Immediately, Crawley went down, along with Creelman and Shark. The only thing which the group had going for them was the fact that the Scorpia agents hadn't known their exact position, so had merely shot in their general direction. Oh, and the MI6 agents as well as the SAS soldiers were all wearing bullet-proof vests. Well, except Alex.

As soon as Agent Andrew had effectively deafened him in one ear, Alex threw himself onto the ground. It appeared that he wasn't the only to do so; ahead of him he saw Agent Rose Allende rapidly crawling towards the only table in the room. A wave of bullets from a single gun cut the agent off. Without missing a beat, she raised her own weapon and shot in the direction in which the bullets were coming from. With that, Agent Rose claimed the first Scorpia life.

Wolf had shouted some order or other. It sounded like he'd just said 'Hippogriff', and in the heat of the battle none of the other agents, who admittedly were more worried about dodging the fatal bullets than figuring out the code of the SAS, had any understanding of what the SAS soldier was trying to say. Only his unit and Agent Ben Daniels seemed to understand. Immediately K-unit and Ben leapt into action, the five of them forming a sort of circle so that they only needed to worry about the hail of bullets coming from one direction. Simultaneously, the five of them fired their guns, momentarily halting the wave of bullets being directed at them.

Rose took the chance to lunge for the table. She turned on its side, positioning it so that she was able to use the metal top as a shield against the bullets. Alex looked at her from his position on the ground to see her frantically motioning him over. With a glance around, the teenage spy dived for the table, ducking behind it just as the gunfire began again.

"You alright?" Rose asked in a harried whisper.

"Yeah," Alex replied. The woman nodded, then looked out from her position of safety, raised her gun, took aim, and fired three times before ducking back down to avoid the hail of bullets.

"Ever been in crossfire?" She asked, before raising her gun again and emptying the clip. She ducked back down to reload.

Alex thought about his answer as he raised the gun and fired, without needing to aim. The bullet flew the length of the room before impacting with a Scorpia agent's chest in a spurt of blood. It appeared Scorpia hadn't bothered with bullet proof vests.

"Well, not really," the teenage spy answered as he ducked down again. He hadn't actually been caught in between so many flying bullets, but he'd had his fair share of 'crossfire'.

"I hate this part about my job," Rose muttered, before raising her gun again and taking out another man, "I really hate this part."

Alex gave her a small smile, peeking out from behind the table. K-unit and the MI6 agents weren't faring as well. Despite the bullet proof vests, Agent Alving was down, bleeding profusely from a wound in his thigh. Agent Garnett was trying to drag him towards the door while at the same time aiming and firing at the opposing agents. It wasn't going too well for her, but at least the woman hadn't been hurt yet. John Crawley was firing determinately at the Scorpia agents despite the wound he'd already received to his upper arm that was obviously causing him a great deal of pain. Ben had been injured; a bullet had penetrated his hand which he was now gripping extremely tightly. K-uni had closed up the ranks, encircling the former SAS soldier so he would not be shot.

"…little bit of trouble. I'll try get the others out, but don't count on it. Over," Rose was talking rapidly into her throat mic. It took an extremely strained effort to be able to hear the reply which Agent Andrew Banks gave.

"_Blossom, this is base. Don't risk your life again, but…do your best. Over."_

"Base this is Blossom. I copy that. Alert the others since they don't appear to have heard. We're going to do an Eye Catcher on three. Over."

"_Blossom this is base. Good luck. Over and out."_

Rose glanced at Alex, seeing that the boy had been able to hear Andrew's voice above the clatter of bullets, and gave him a reassuring nod.

"Alex," she started, "Now is the perfect time for you to show off your running skill."

"What?" The boy looked at her, confused. Rose smiled tightly.

"It's perfectly obvious we're not going to make it out if we keep this up-"

"So you want me to _leave_?"

"Alex, I'm not going to risk your life if I can help it!"

"Who put you in charge of my life?"

"I'm just doing what I think is right!"

Alex looked at Rose, taking in the woman's serious expression. He knew that she was trying to do what she thought was best – though she may also have been ordered to keep him safe. But Alex Rider was not a coward. He didn't run away from battles, not if lives were at risk. And he couldn't leave Rose; she was the only other MI6 agent that was civil to him, and regarded him as an actual human being instead of a weapon. Added to that the fact that Desiree had still not been found…

"I'm staying, and there's nothing you can do about it," Alex said stubbornly, taking out another three Scorpia agents.

Rose sighed. "Okay, fine, but _please _be careful. Try not to get killed."

"Don't worry, I'd rather be alive for the next couple of years," Alex said as cheerfully as he could manage over the gunfire.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Okay. When I count to three, here's what we do…"

* * *

Ben was in pain. A whole new world of pain. Well, maybe not, since he'd been shot before, but still…Oh God! His hand! It hurt, it caned…ARGH!!!

Dimly he was aware of K-unit standing protectively around him, shielding him from any further harm. He wished he had the strength to tell them not to bother, to just run away while they still could. Unfortunately, the only thing he was aware of right now was his throbbing hand. It bled profusely; the bullet had passed right through ripping a hole through the centre of his hand.

Ben was breathing heavy, ragged breaths. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on for – he may have only been shot in the hand and not some vital organ, but he was still losing a substantial amount of blood at a very rapid pace.

"Hang in there Fox!" A faintly familiar voice, probably Snake's, drifted into Ben's world.

The MI6 agent dazedly turned his head so he could look in the direction of the voice. He could see K-unit's medic looking at him with worry, before firing off another round of bullets. Ben attempted to smile reassuringly at him, but it probably ended up looking more like a grimace than anything.

Snake turned to the remaining three soldiers in his unit, and shouted to them something that sounded like "Cover me!". Then he knelt beside Ben, and wrenched the man's hand towards him, causing Ben to cry out softly in pain. Snake frowned in worry, and quickly and expertly tore off strips of material from his shirt to wrap around the bullet wound. He bound the bleeding hole as tightly as he could, using pressure to try and stop the bleed.

"Come on Fox, take a deep breath," Snake muttered over the gunfire. Ben had been close to hyperventilating, which would have been bad news if he actually decided to faint. The MI6 agent closed his eyes and forced himself to take one long drawn out breath. After that his breathing slowed enough to ensure that he did not collapse.

"…THREE!" A voice almost shouted over the noise of gunshots and pained yells.

It seemed like Snake and Ben were the only two people to have heard the shout. The two jerked around to see Rose and Alex leap out from behind the table, guns raised and firing. They quickly took out five or so of the Scorpia gunmen before the others began concentrating their fire in the direction of the deadly two, ignoring the MI6 agents and K-unit who, to be perfectly honest, were not doing a very good job at shooting.

Immediately the MI6 agents shot towards the door, Agent Crawley pausing briefly to seize Agent Alving's legs while Agent Garnett grabbed the now unconscious agent under his arms. They literally dragged him out of the room. K-unit was close behind them, following the escape. They'd all heard the command over their earpieces that Agent Rose Allende was planning to do an 'Eye Catcher'. Snake helped Ben towards the door; the man was extremely pale and dizzy, though it appeared that the bleeding in his now bandaged hand had slowed.

Alex's heart beat frantically against his chest as he took out another two Scorpia gunmen. _This is suicide!_ He thought, but still he persisted. Rose had explained to him that the Eye Catcher was just that – catch the eye of the opponent, giving your team mates a chance to escape. It was pretty much a massive, suicidal distraction. Why suicidal? Because there was no chance for you to escape. Odd are, unless the opponents showed mercy or were forced to keep you alive, you wouldn't walk out of the shoot-off in one piece.

Snake carried almost all of Ben's weight. The man couldn't support himself any longer. Wolf turned back to see the two lagging behind. He ran back to them, and lifted Ben's arm around his own shoulders before helping Snake drag their ex-team mate to safety. A burst of gunfire in their direction cut them off, before the hail of bullets abruptly stopped – Eagle and Shark had eliminated the threat. Well, that's team work for you.

Soon they'd all escaped through the door. K-unit paused to look worriedly back at Rose and Alex, their unit's unofficial member, before the fact that Fox needed urgent medical treatment forced them to leave the two behind. The MI6 agents however, didn't spare another glance for the two youngest MI6 agents who'd literally saved all their lives.

When Alex and Rose were the only ones left in the room, the gunfire suddenly stopped. The two spies tensed, their fingers remaining on the triggers of their guns, waiting. The silence in the room thickened dramatically as the two, who stood back to back, glared at the Scorpia agents on their respective sides. Now would be the perfect opportunity to take down the remaining gunmen, except neither Rose nor Alex killed men in cold blood, not even if they completely deserved it.

After a few tense minutes had passed, the silence was shattered by – of all things – applause. Extremely out-of-place, awkward applause. Rose and Alex, both panting slightly from their earlier exertion, looked in the direction where the applause came from to see William making his way slowly towards the two from one of the doors.

"Well, done," he said, still clapping, "Oh, marvellous! That was quite some entertainment!"

If it weren't for the fact that William was now flanked by two guards who had their guns trained on Rose and Alex, the two young agents would either have turned and ran, or opened their mouths to question the man's sanity.

"But really, it took MI6 way too long to hack into our heat signals, if I do say so myself. I mean, the AIS only took what, two, three minutes tops? They completely caught us off our guards! But you…well, half of my men were asleep by the time your people hacked their way in!" William chuckled humourlessly, and stopped clapping, "Take them away," he ordered, his cold voice matching his emotionless eyes.

Alex and Rose found themselves forcefully disarmed, though Rose pulled the trigger again and took down another Scorpia agent before her gun could be snatched away. The two had their arms wrenched into rather painful positions that left them little room to manoeuvre without having their arms dislocated from their shoulders. They were dragged out of the room, through one of the side doors.

Alex grimaced as he and Rose were forced through the room. Dead Scorpia gunmen lay scattered on the ground, pools of blood everywhere. The stench of death hit him, almost causing the teenage spy to vomit. He was glad he didn't; that would surely have caused his arms to dislocate. Rose was no better off than he – she was extremely pale, and was trying extremely hard not to look at the dead or the blood.

They went through another door which led into a rather long hallway. The group walked in complete silence. Finally they stopped in front of a heavy looking, and very securely shut door. Two of the five Scorpia agents opened the door, and Alex and Rose were literally thrown inside, the door slamming shut behind them again. The two could hear sounds of the door being bolted, before receding footsteps told them that the guards were walking away.

"Well…at least we're alive," Alex muttered. Rose spared him a small smile before standing from where she'd been thrown and walking around their cell, checking all the walls over for weak spots. At last she sighed and sat down next to Alex, who hadn't moved a muscle; the adrenaline shot he'd been given had started to wear off.

"This place is so secure, you'd need an explosive to blast through anything," Rose said in disgust, "And that window is like thirty centimetres thick! No way you'd be able to smash it open. Even if you did, they've put up freakin' bars outside!" The woman huffed in annoyance, before turning to look at Alex for the first time. The sun had already risen, signalling the beginning of a new day. Light poured into their cell from the thirty centimetre thick window.

"Are you alright?" She asked, suddenly worried. Most of the colour had drained out of the boy's face, something which hadn't been noticed previously due to the absence of light. Now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off however, the teenage spy looked all the more worse for wear.

"I'm fine," Alex said meekly, leaning his head back against the wall.

"You don't look fine," Rose said, reaching up to feel Alex's forehead. Well, at least the boy didn't have a temperature.

"I'm just tired," Alex sighed. It appeared that Rose had a motherly nature better suited to being a nurse rather than a spy.

Rose had a sceptical look on her face. Alex looked tired, yes, but also bruised, battered, and slightly defeated. Before she could open her mouth to interrogate him, however, the bolts on the cell door were drawn and the door opened with an ominous creak.

William walked in, followed by a guard who was dragging a limp body behind him.

"My dear guests," William sneered, "I believe it is time for you to be introduced to one of my dearest friends." At his signal, the guard dropped the body on the floor. "I would stay and chat, but I have important matters to take care of. Well, I'll leave you to become acquainted!" And with that, he and the guard left again, the door shut and securely bolted.

Alex and Rose looked at the body lying face down on the floor with some apprehension. It appeared to be a girl – well, they presumed since she had messy blood red hair that looked to be about shoulder length. The back of her clothes were ripped and torn; the two agents could see a series of welts and cuts on her back that were barely hidden by her clothes. Alex stood cautiously and crept over to the girl, Rose eyeing the boy's every move.

As Alex approached, he could hear her breathing in a rather laboured manner. Well, at least she was alive. The boy knelt down on the floor beside her, brushing away her deep red hair. His hand came away damp. Frowning, Alex looked at his hand and to his horror, saw that it was covered with blood. It took all his self control to not give into the temptation to vomit. There was a sick feeling in his stomach however, as the boy turned the limp body over. Rose gasped in shock, and Alex recoiled away from the body that was covered with bruises and bloody marks.

Desiree Swan lay unconscious on the ground, her laboured, uneven breathing filling the small cell.

* * *

_Hey all! Sorry again for the rather long wait between this chapter and the previous. _

_Anyways, how did you all like this chapter? Was it good? Did it suck? Were you so horrified by my plot/writing skills that you were soiled for life? Let me know about it in a __**review**__!!! _

_And remember, the more reviews I get, the faster I'll upload the next chapter!!!_

_Love Chariots99 _


	15. FIRE!

_**OMG, JUST 12 REVIEWS TO GO UNTIL I REACH 100!!! *hint*hint***_

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan), and any other characters you don't recognise from the Alex Rider series._

**Chapter 15**

"I send twenty of you in. _Twenty_. And you come back, _without either of the teenagers,_ and also managed to lose _one of your fellow agents_?" Mr Blunt's voice never rose in volume, but it had become ice cold. The gathered agents and SAS soldiers, minus Agents Alving, Crawley and Daniels whom were admitted into hospital to treat their respective bullet wounds, and also without Tom Harris who'd also been sent to the hospital so that Jack could look after him, all recoiled slightly away from the head of the SO.

Admittedly, Mr Blunt was right. They'd been sent in to rescue the two kidnapped teenagers, and they'd come out with one less MI6 agent, no teens, and three injured agents. They would've at least had Alex if the boy hadn't refused rescue and demanded to go with them. But no-one brought that up in front of Mr Blunt and Mrs Jones. The two heads had made it very clear that they did _not_ want any excuses for their failed mission.

After more berating from Mr Blunt, the group were dismissed. Quite literally, they'd been told to "Get out and don't come back until I feel up to forgiving you". In other words, until another mission came up in which the MI6 agents were usable in.

Mr Blunt sighed, turning to his second in command. Mrs Jones looked rather worried. And really to be honest, who could blame her? Alex was one of their top agents, and Rose had been an excellent find. Unlike Alex, she didn't have spy parents, uncles or godparents. Her parents were actually art teachers, her uncle a vet, and well...her parents hadn't seen the need to find her godparents. But the fact that Agent Allende was still alive after all the missions she'd been on said more about her skill than her file ever could.

"What do we do now?" Mrs Jones asked in a carefully masked voice.

Mr Blunt grimaced. "We're waiting for back up," he said. It was clear from his tone that he did not approve of 'back up'; a moment later, Mrs Jones found out why.

The door to Mr Blunt's office burst open and in strolled Jacob Wood, his hands casually resting in his pockets. The AIS agent had been cleared from hospital – he'd actually not been suffering from any serious injuries, and now merely had a couple of nasty looking bruises as proof that he'd actually taken on Scorpia agents. The fact that he was back on his feet so soon could be attributed to several factors; his injuries weren't actually all that bad (they just hurt a lot), he was fit to begin with so it was easier to recover, and the doctors and nurses at St. Dominic's were the best.

"Mr Blunt," Jake said with a respectful nod, "Mrs Jones. May I introduce the rest of my unit?" At those words, Terry Phillips and Dean Finley walked in, both of them nodding towards the heads of the Special Operations. Mr Blunt didn't make any attempt to acknowledge the AIS agents; indeed it appeared that he was trying his best to ignore their very existence. Mrs Jones however, gave the three a small smile.

Terry and Dean had been flown in that morning. They'd left Australia the previous afternoon, and had requested to stay in England until they could see their kidnapped agent safe and sound. Or, at least, as safe and sound as you can be after being held captive by Scorpia.

"So," Mrs Jones broke the silence that had previously hung in the head of the SO's office, "You three believe that you can get all three agents out? Just by yourselves?"

"Well, we're going to give it a shot. Try something completely new, you know? If sending twenty people didn't work," here Jake paused with a small humourless smile on his face, "Then perhaps three people may get the job done. That said, I believe that we will have more success than those you sent in last night."

"Oh?" Mr Blunt said in a cold voice; he didn't appreciate the AIS putting down his agents, even if they did royally screw up the rescue, "And why's that?"

"We're a team. A very close-knit one if I do say so myself," Jake answered.

"Yeah, unlike your agents," Terry added, "Who didn't even spare Agents Allende and Rider a second glance when the two saved their butts." Mr Blunt and Mrs Jones stared at Terry incredulously. The twenty-one year old raised an eyebrow, then answered their unspoken question, "We were watching the feed of the heat signals on Mr Smithers' computer."

"We've always got each other's backs," Dean summarised up his younger unit members, gazing at Mr Blunt with calm, cool eyes, "We'll get the job done."

Mr Blunt briefly shut his eyes, drawing a deep breath, before looking at the AIS agents again. "Very well. If you think you can do a better job than my agents, you're welcome to try. Though if you do return without Agents Allende and Rider, do not consider your mission a success."

The three remaining members of AIS's elite Unit One merely gazed at the head of the SO impassively, before Jake turned and left, followed by Dean then Terry. Just before Terry was completely out the door, he heard Mrs Jones speak to them in a soft voice that was completely devoid of all emotion that her boss may have seen as a weakness:

"Good luck."

* * *

The cell was heating up with the rising sun, raising the temperature so that no-one froze to death. Not that its inhabitants noticed; they were more concerned with the masses of bruises, welts, cuts and blood that the unconscious girl resting on Alex's lap sported.

Alex gently trailed his fingers along Desiree's neck, tracing the hand shaped bruises that were present. The girl's left arm lay at a funny angle; it had been broken twice along the forearm. Rose was currently bent over it, wrapping masses of strips torn from hers and Alex's clothes, trying her best to immobilize the doubly broken arm before the girl woke up. The blood that had coloured the girl's naturally blonde hair a deep red had come from several cuts that traced her hairline on her forehead before burying itself deeper into her hair.

Desiree was pale from blood loss, that much was certain. Her skin was colder than was normal, her lips tinged slightly blue. Alex would've thought her dead if he couldn't hear her raspy breathing filling up the cell. It was, however, unclear whether or not the girl suffered from any internal bleeding, or a concussion. Rose said they should really try to wake the girl up, though neither of the two were rushing towards that prospect.

"There," Rose said finally, leaning back after securing the last strip of cloth.

"You think that'll hold?" Alex asked, his voice tired.

"I hope," Rose muttered darkly, "Otherwise that girl's going to go through a whole new world of pain." The woman then proceeded to foully curse Scorpia, calling the ruthless criminal organisation every name under the sun. She even used different languages, switching from English to Russian to Italian to what sounded like Cantonese before fluently swearing in French. Alex raised his eyebrows, impressed. Even his vocabulary didn't stretch to that many different languages, and of the ones that he _did_ know, he wasn't as up to date in swearing as Rose appeared to be.

"You know some colourful language," the teenage spy commented when Rose stopped for breath. The MI6 agent snorted.

"If we ever make it out of this alive, I'll teach some to you," she offered.

Alex cracked a grin. "Thanks."

They were interrupted, though the conversation was just stopping anyway, by a soft whimper. Alex and Rose snapped back to look at Dessi, who's laboured breathing intensified as she began to leave the unconscious world behind. The girl whimpered again, before her eyes slowly fluttered open.

Desiree blinked a few times before the blurry image of Alex leaning over her rather protectively sharpened into a clear picture. Dessi moaned in pain, raising the arm that wasn't broken and putting a hand to hold her throbbing head. When the pain dulled slightly, she began to sit up, only to have Alex firmly push her back down again before she actually got anywhere.

"Oh, no you don't," the boy said, "We don't want you knocking yourself out again."

Dessi blinked at him, her mind still a bit fuzzy, so she pretty much just saw Alex's mouth moving without any noise. Instinct, sharpened from her countless missions, caused her brain to immediately lip read the boy, and interpret his movements with real words.

"Dessi? Are you okay?" Alex asked, seeing that she had yet to reply. This time the girl heard him, though his voice seemed a tad muffled to her ears.

Desiree opened her mouth to answer, but her voice didn't seem to want to work. Clearing her throat she tried again, and this time managed to emit a small noise that could be taken as an affirmative to Alex's question.

"Dessi?" Worry clouded Alex's eyes.

"I'm okay," Dessi whispered since her voice didn't seem up to speaking at a normal volume. Upon hearing her speak, Alex sighed in relief.

Rose chose that time to slid across so that Desiree could see her. It took the girl several long seconds to be able to focus on the MI6 agent. When she did, her eyes filled with recognition.

"Hi Desiree," She whispered, "I'm – "

"Agent Rose Allende?" Dessi asked, her voice still soft.

Rose stiffened in surprise. "How do you know my name?"

The corners of Desiree's mouth twitch slightly. "File," was the only word she could say with the limited energy left in her body. Alex took over to explain what the girl meant, though he told Rose about the AIS in a very round about, glossed over way that really left more questions than it answered. However, it seemed that Rose had some knowledge about the AIS, for when they were mentioned she turned to Dessi with a look of utter surprise and awe.

"You work for the AIS?"

"Yeah," Dessi replied.

"Wow," Rose breathed. When Alex looked at her questioningly, she elaborated. "Mr Blunt is always going on about the AIS. About how they're virtually untraceable. How they know everything about everything. How no agency in the world seems to know a _thing_ about any of their agents, not even the Mossaad. He even went as far as wishing how the rest of us were as good as their agents – that was about when he got the brilliantly lame idea to send all his agents to train with the SAS at Breacon Beacons," Rose finished with a disgusted look, rolling her eyes.

"Wait, hold up," Alex said as Rose's last sentence clicked somewhere deep in his mind, "Blunt sends all his agents to train at Breacon Beacons _because_ he wants to copy the AIS?"

"Yeah, pretty much. You should have heard the row he and the Sergeant had in the lobby – it was epic," Rose said in awe, "Though I really wish that the Sergeant had won. I hate going to train with the SAS. Not only because it seems to always be raining, but the trainees seem to enjoy taunting me purely because I am a girl."

Alex snorted. "I know that treatment," he said, then seeing the look on Rose's face, he elaborated. "When I first got roped into this whole spying business, they made me go to Breacon Beacons. The unit I was put with…well, let's just say they weren't very nice," Alex shook his head slightly, "They called me 'double-o-nothing'. Seemed under the impression that I was sent there by my parents. They wish," he added in a dark mutter.

Rose sighed. "MI6 has _got_ to let this whole contest against the AIS go," she said, "Before it kills someone."

Alex gave a small smile, tilting his head down to ask for Dessi's opinion before realising that the girl had either dozed off or fainted again. The teenage spy glanced questioningly at Rose, who gave him a reassuring smile that answered his unspoken question.

"At least she's stopped bleeding," Rose said, keeping her voice soft so that she didn't wake the exhausted girl.

"Yeah," Alex whispered, "At least."

His fingers went back to gently tracing the bruise on her neck.

* * *

It was well past noon when Jake, Terry and Dean arrived at the compound where the three agents were being held. All seemed quiet, so it was safe to assume that none of them were being tortured at that current moment in time.

The three AIS agents put their heads together in the back of their can, going over their plan one final time.

"...and then you come in..."

"...and you make sure the doors are open..."

"...where are the explosives – oh, wait. I've found them..."

"...make sure you keep out of sight..."

"...I hope Dessi's doing okay..."

"...then you creep in and knock them out..."

"...and I'll take care of the rest," Jake finished. The other two agents nodded in agreement, before all three of them began to arm themselves with an assortment of guns, knives, and small but powerful explosives courtesy of MI6's gadget expert, Mr Smithers.

That done, they all stopped and looked at each other for a moment. It was clear from their faces that all three of them were thinking the same thought: _Normally, there'd be four of us..._

Jake shook himself from his reverie. His team needed him to be a strong leader. And Desiree needed her team to get her out alive. "Okay, we all know why we're here. Good luck, and if I don't see you in one hour, I'm sending in help."

"Jakie-boy," Terry said, rolling his eyes, "We have distress signals." It was an argument they went through before almost every mission.

"And if your unconscious, you wouldn't be able to press the signal." Yep, the responses were extremely deeply engrained into their minds that this was almost becoming a ritual. They waited for the next line, before realising that Desiree wasn't currently with them. Dean sighed, and climbed out of the van before coming to an abrupt halt.

Someone collided into him.

"Ow! Dean, what gives?" Terry whined as Jake carefully climbed out to avoid walking into Dean.

"Finley? You alri..." the words died in Jake's mouth as he stared in horror in the direction which Dean was looking at.

The compound had been set on fire.

* * *

It was well past noon when William decided to pay his hostages a visit. He'd already ordered all his remaining operatives (the ones who were alive) out of the compound, and back to Scorpia headquarters. They'd achieved what they'd set out to do. Only three guards remained with him, and before long the four of them would be leaving too.

But he had just one last thing to do.

"Well, good afternoon," William announced as he walked into the holding cell. Alex looked up, his eyes alert. Desiree remained unconscious, her head propped up on Alex's lap. Rose tensed, ready to defend the two teenagers if the Scorpia men decided to attack them.

"What do you want?" Alex spat.

"Now now, play nice little Rider," William smirked, "I've merely come to pay you all a visit before my departure." The man noticed the sudden increase in attention when he'd mentioned the word 'departure', and he laughed. "Oh, you're not going anywhere! But I'm afraid that you'll no longer be graced with me presence."

"Oh no," Alex said, his voice laced with sarcasm, "Whatever will we do now?"

One of the guards growled at the boy, snarling something about his 'insolent tone', but William raised a hand to stop him actually doing anything in retaliation.

"If I were you, I would treat my elders with respect."

"Lucky thing that you're not me then," Alex bit back in an insulting tone. This time nothing stopped the guard from lunging for the boy, his hands drawn back ready to punch the living daylights out of him. Before Alex could react and get out of the way, which was admittedly rather difficult with Desiree passed out on his lap, Rose leapt to his defence.

The young MI6 agent dived in front of the two teenagers to use her body as a shield. The Scorpia guard hit her right across the cheek, the force of the punch sending her flying sideways and slamming her into the hard wall of the cell. Alex pushed Desiree off his lap, pushing the girl so that she was out of harm's way, before lunging for the guard who hadn't yet recovered from his punch.

The teenage spy drew back his fist, before unleashing a deadly punch aimed straight for the man's throat. There was a small part of his mind that became slightly nauseated when the boy felt the guard's throat collapse under the force of the punch. The guard stumbled back, doubled over and spluttering for air that would never reach his lungs. One of the other guards surrounding William stepped forwards to pull the injured man out of the cell. William just stood there and smirked. The fact that Alex had just taken out one of his men seemed to have no effect on the Scorpia agent.

"Well well well," he drawled, "That was some punch. Pity that you'll never get to use it again." Alex tensed, assuming that the other guard or William himself would pull out a gun from nowhere and shoot him.

William turned, motioning for the guard to follow him out. The boy was so shocked that neither had made a move to kill him that he didn't react until it was too late. The heavy door was shut again, the bolt redrawn to keep the hostages inside. Alex threw himself at the door, but it stayed firmly shut.

Rose groaned softly, sitting up from the floor and clutching her cheek which had swollen and was beginning to bruise.

"Alex...?" She said, "Wha – "

"Scorpia's leaving," Alex said grimly. "And they're leaving us here alone."

He didn't need to finish off his sentence for Rose to understand what he was implying.

_They're leaving us here alone to die..._

* * *

It was well past noon when Mrs Jones came hurrying into Mr Blunt's office, a file clutched tightly in her hand. Without any preamble, she threw the file in front of the head of the Special Operation.

"Have you seen this?!" She exclaimed, worry in her eyes.

Mr Blunt opened the file slowly, read the first few lines slowly, then closed the file and looked up at Mrs Jones. "Yes I have."

"Well? What are we going to do?"

"I've already sent out agents to deal with them. They were more than happy to make up for their mistake earlier today."

"ALAN! Is that all you think about?" Mrs Jones all but shrieked, "All the Scorpia agents who were still alive after that failed attempt have been sent packing, away from the compound! Doesn't that ring alarm bells? Especially since none of our satellite footage suggests that Rider and Allende and that AIS girl were taken with them!"

"Calm down!" Mr Blunt barked. He knew that his second in command had a soft spot when it came to Agent Rider, but even he himself had to admit that the boy was more useful to MI6 alive than dead. "Our agents will make sure that all the Scorpia operatives are caught, and those AIS agents will get Rider and Allende out."

"Do you have faith in them then?" Mrs Jones asked, her voice softer as she calmed down.

Mr Blunt gazed at Mrs Jones, then sighed. "Unfortunately, even I must admit that those three have more chance of rescue than our agents ever did."

"They're that good, huh?"

Mr Blunt's expression seemed to darken, his eyes glazed over. It seemed he was relieving a particularly painful memory.

"You have no idea, Tulip."

* * *

Alex sat down with a huff next to the tightly shut and locked door. Well, didn't his day just keep getting better and better.

"Don't worry," Rose said, "They'll come rescue us."

"Yeah, but will they come soon enough?" Alex asked, his gaze unwillingly fixed once again upon Desiree Swan. Rose seemed to follow his gaze, for she sighed before moving closer to the girl so that she could check up on her injuries.

"She'll pull through," Rose said in a comforting tone, moving Desiree's broken arm so that it was in a less painful looking position, "From what I've heard, AIS agents are strong."

There was a silence as the two sat, contemplating their current situation. That silence was broken with a soft moan of pain. Both spies spun around to see Desiree re-entering the realm of the conscious, rubbing her head with her unbroken arm.

"What...what happened?" She asked, her voice so hoarse that it made Alex and Rose both cringe in pain.

"Well, er, you sort of fainted," Alex said.

Desiree gave him her best glare she could manage under the circumstances. "Yes, I figured that out for myself, funnily enough." The girl tried to push herself up, only to have Rose firmly hold her to the ground, tutting gently under her breath.

"You really shouldn't overexert yourself," Agent Allende said in a motherly sort of way. Dessi just rolled her eyes, though Alex noticed that the girl actually did remain on the floor.

Alex sighed and banged his head repeatedly against the wall, until Rose told him to stop. "You're going to need all the brain cells you have for the GCSEs," she warned. The boy merely rolled his eyes.

The cell was heating up, more than was natural. Surely the sun had never been that hot in winter...had it? Alex sighed again, wiping a trail of sweat from his forehead. Rose looked up, frowning slightly.

"Are you sweating?" She asked. Alex nodded. "Me too..." Rose's voice trailed off, and she turned to glare at the sun that was shining through the impossibly small window.

Desiree tensed noticeably. She tilted her head up off the floor and sniffed the air. Alex watched her curiously.

"Err...What are you doing?"

Dessi didn't answer him. She breathed in deeply, or at least as deeply as she could without causing herself an over-excess of pain, before asking: "Do you smell something?"

"Err..."

Alex took in a deep breath, and suddenly noticed the small change in the air. It was slightly thicker, more...cloudy. There was definitely a different texture to it. "Something's different..."

Rose tilted her head up and breathed in the air, before wiping another trail of sweat off her face. Desiree, ignoring both of the MI6 agents, pushed herself up off the ground. Gritting her teeth so she didn't scream in pain when she hit her broken arm, the girl managed to get unsteadily to her feet. She tottered over to the door, Rose and Alex glaring at her every step of the way, before leaning carefully against it, carefully avoiding Alex who was now sandwiched between her and the wall, and put her nose to the non-existent crack between the wall and the door. There she sniffed again. Her eyes widened in alarm.

"It's smoke!" She exclaimed. Alex shifted with unease, accidentally hitting the girl and causing her to lose her balance. With a small "Eep" of surprise, Desiree fell, landing unceremoniously in Alex's lap. She felt the boy stiffen with surprise, and turned her head up towards him, a sheepish grin on her face.

"You alright?" Alex asked, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling inside his stomach at the sight of her smile. There was a strange tingling sensation along his body where the girl's weight had settled.

"Yeah," Desiree replied, her voice slightly breathless. She turned her head away, though not before Alex caught a flash of pain flicker through her crystal blue eyes. She girl winced, and brought her uninjured hand up to her ribs, which felt like they were on fire.

Speaking of which...

"I think they've decided to burn us alive," Desiree said, and for such a situation, her voice was exceptionally calm. She may as well have been commenting upon the weather.

Alex and Rose exchanged looks of unease, before they dragged Desiree (who didn't appear to have the energy to get up again) to the furthest corner of the room from the door. They all noticed the faint trail of black smoke seeping into their cell...

* * *

Jake and Terry rushed towards the flaming compound, their hearts racing in fear. The flames seemed to have been started in the wing furthest away from where the tracking device injected inside Desiree's body showed her to be. However, the fire was spreading quickly, sending thick black smoke up into the sky and through the corridors of the compound. Dean stayed behind to call MI6 and report the situation and request back-up in the form of fire engines and ambulances. There would definitely be some smoke inhalation from this.

Reaching the compound, Jake pulled up his scarf to wrap around his nose and mouth, motioning for Terry to do the same. With one last breath of relatively fresh air, the two boys plunged into the burning building, making their way desperately through the labyrinth of corridors. They'd already pre-memorised the route to Desiree's cell, and hoped against hope that Scorpia had been stupid enough to put all their prisoners into one cell. If not...there simply wouldn't be enough time left to find and save the other two from the flames.

Right, left, straight, left, left...and on and on the pattern went. All the while, the temperature around them rose dramatically, and the air thickened. Soon it was so black that the two were left with a visibility of just one metre, meaning that more than once one of them would crash into a wall that loomed up out of nowhere.

A thin piece of a wire-like string trailed behind the two, courtesy of the Covert Weapons Section from the AIS. The string contained within it thin electrical wires that measured, to the accuracy of 0.0001 micro metres, the distances which had been travelled. This information was then relayed to the main computer, which Dean held, in order to inform control of the position of their agents. In this particular instance, however, the string was merely being used as a guide, a way for the two AIS agents to get out of the burning compound, once they'd rescued the hostages, without the risk of getting lost in the maze of corridors.

A soft, muffled beeping brought the two to an abrupt halt. Jake glared down at his watch, before turning to Terry and nodding. His watch had an alarm inbuilt inside it that would go off once it came within a two metre radius of any tracking device that it was programmed to find. In this case, it's beeping signalled that Jake and Terry had reached the correct corridor where Desiree was being held.

Terry reached out blindly, his eyes narrowed in the smoke, feeling for the wall. Abruptly, his hand came into contact with a piece of metal that burnt from the heat it'd absorbed from the fire. The man felt around the shape of the metal, before realising that it was actually a heavy bolt designed to keep doors closed.

It took Jake and Terry to pull the bolt open; they'd had to take their scarves off to wrap around the burning metal, which meant that they were using one hand each to cover their mouths. Once the bolt was drawn, they re-wrapped their scarves around their faces. Jake reached across to grab the handle, which was just pleasantly warm, and with an effort heaved the door open.

The cell had filled with smoke, though not enough to kill. Once the door opened, however, billows of black smoke blew into the cell. The split second before that happened however, Jake and Terry got a very good look inside the cell, through the relatively thin smoke. What they saw made their stomachs plummet with worry.

All three agents were in the cell. And all three were collapsed on the floor.

* * *

_I know, another cliffie! So hate me :( But it's getting really really late, and I need sleep._

_Now, I'm not going to make excuses as to why I haven't updated for so long. I'm merely going to state that I am now a med student, and as such my lecturers have decided that I do not need my free time. In fact, I'm not sure that they even know what free time means..._

_To make up for the really late update, I've made this chappie extra long!_

_I'll update as soon as I possibly can...but in the mean time to get my spirit up, why don't you all __**review**__?!!_

_Love Chariots99_

_Ps,__** OMG, JUST 12 REVIEWS TO GO UNTIL I REACH 100!!! *hint*hint***_


	16. St Dominic's

**OMG!!!!!! ONLY ****5**** MORE REVIEWS UNTIL 100!!!!!!!!!!*hint*hint*!!!**

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan), and any other characters you don't recognise from the Alex Rider series._

**Chapter 16**

The smoke was seeping into the cell thick and fast. How it could even get through the heavily closed door was beyond the prisoners. Soon enough, there was enough smoke in the cell to really cause a problem.

Rose stared worriedly at the girl in Alex's arms as she violently coughed again. The smoke was playing havoc with Desiree's lungs, that and the fact that many of her ribs had been broken caused unending amounts of pain to shoot through her body as she coughed and coughed.

"She can't breathe!"Alex said, trying to steady the girl. A red trail was making its way out of the corner of her mouth; she'd started to cough up blood. Rose frowned – that was not a good sign. In the girl's battered state, that could only mean one thing; one of Desiree's broken ribs had punctured her lung.

Rose bit her lip. She had to get the girl to stop coughing, otherwise it would be the death of her. "Desiree? Sweetie, if you can hear me, I want you to know that we're right here, okay?" Through her coughs, the girl made a weak attempt to nod. "Okay, I need you to try and stop coughing. Can you do that for me? Just, concentrate on something else for two seconds, long enough so that you can draw in a breath. I know you're in a lot of pain, but if you can't get air into your lungs, you're not going to make it. So, just concentrate on...concentrate on Alex!" The boy turned to Rose, raising an eyebrow. Agent Allende ignored him, "Concentrate on a goodtime you had with Alex! Like...err..." Rose looked at the boy, silently telling him to contribute something.

Alex sighed, his mind flashing back. "Dessi? Do you remember on my birthday, how we made Tom mad by refusing to tell him what you gave me as a present? Concentrate on how funny his face was, how pathetic his glare was compared to Wolf...or Jake. Can you do that?"

Through the pain, Alex's voice floated into Desiree's head. Then, the memory came up, of Tom trying futilely to find out what Desiree had given Alex. Slowly, as that image solidified in her mind, the girl's hacking coughs subsided. Before she could draw in a breath, Alex and Rose both pushed her onto the floor, where there was less smoke, to make sure that another coughing attack wouldn't be triggered.

Desiree drew in a deep rasping breath, lying face down on the floor with her head tilted to one side. She ignored the sharp sting of her broken rib stabbing into her lung. Alex lay down next to her, and hesitantly put a reassuring arm around her waist (though only because of Rose's glare which plainly told him that he'd better keep the girl calm or else he'd suffer a fate worse than death). Dessi stiffened slightly at the boy's touch, and for a moment Alex was about to withdraw his arm. Then the girl carefully leaned into his one armed embrace, closing her eyes. Alex felt her slowly relax against him, and for the first time in a while smiled.

Rose watched the whole exchange with a smile on her face. If they were going to die, at least those two had found each other. The MI6 agent shifted around so that she could lie down in a comfortable position with slightly fresher air, a little way away from the two teenagers.

And that was when the door to their cell burst open, and a sudden influx of black smoke billowed in. Before their vision was completely obscured, Rose and Alex both saw the incomers staring at them in horror, apparently not realising that the three of them were not dead.

"Jake!" Alex shouted with joy, causing the girl in his arm to jolt awake.

"Alex? Desiree? Agent Allende? You guys alive?" Alex recognised Jake's voice, muffled as it was by the scarf around his mouth. Footsteps approached them, and suddenly through the thick black smoke Jake's face appeared.

"No, we're dead and that's why I'm not talking to you right not," Alex replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He heard Rose's muffled snort.

"Jake," Desiree whispered, squinting up at her field partner.

Jake gave a small smile in her direction turning his head so that he could shout without deafening her. "Oi, Terry! You got the other one?"

"Yep," Terry's voice came from beside them.

"Okay, let's go," Jake ordered, and with that he stood, holding out a hand so that he could help Desiree up. The girl didn't take it. "Dessi? You coming or what?"

"Alex?" The Aussie girl whispered, completely ignoring her field partner, "I can't walk."

Alex bit his lip in worry. "I'll carry you," he volunteered. The boy felt rather than saw Desiree's head making a small nodding motion. "Okay," Alex stood carefully, before bending down and carefully picking Desiree up. The girl tiredly wrapped one of her arms around the boy's neck, while tucking the injured one around her own chest.

Jake couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy when he realised that Desiree was being carried by Alex. She was _his_ field partner, not the MI6 boy's! But a bigger emotion soon took over, and it was a while before he realised that it was actually a feeling of protectiveness towards the battered girl in Alex's arms.

"Come on," Jake said gruffly, "Let's go. Terry? You got Agent Allende?"

"I can walk perfectly well," a female voice snapped through the smoke.

They all heard Terry sigh. "Well, I _found_ her. Does that count?"

Jake rolled his eyes, though they couldn't see it through the smoke, before ordering Terry and Rose to grab the wire which would guide them back. Jake reached out until he could hold onto Alex's shirt so that he could direct the boy since he didn't have any free hands.

It was noticeably hotter in the corridor. Jake bit his lip in worry, before ordering them to move as fast as they could. The five of them, or rather four with one being carried, ran silently through the corridors, blindly following the wire that was their guide. Alex lagged behind with Jake, making sure that he didn't bash the girl in his arms into anything.

The smoke thickened, and it wasn't long before Desiree's hacking coughs started again. She shook so violently that Alex had to tighten his grip around to girl to make sure that she wasn't accidently jolted out of his arms. Terry and Rose paused in worry, but Jake yelled at them to keep going, "The sooner we're out the sooner we can get her medical assistance!"

Tense minutes passed before they saw the doorway to freedom. Terry stumbled out first, before turning and catching Rose who managed to trip over a non-existent item in her haste to get outside. Jake came next, literally dragging Alex by the shirt as the boy stumbled out. Desiree glanced up briefly as she felt the sun on her face, before burying her head into Alex's chest to continue her coughing fit.

Terry gave his unit member a worried glance. "We have to get to Dean. He's called for the ambulances already."

Jake nodded grimly, motioning for Alex to hand over his field partner. The boy glared at Jake, before realising that in his weakened state, with the adrenalin leaving his body, there was no way he'd be able to get Desiree to medical assistance on time. Grudgingly he gave Desiree to Jake, who wrapped her in his arms and took off.

"Don't worry," Terry said, "She's a tough one. She'll be fine." He wasn't really sure who he was trying to convince. "Come on, we need to get you two checked up."

In the distance, they could see fire fighters already working to try and contain the blaze that had, thankfully, not been able to spread to where they currently stood. Without another word Terry set off at a slow pace to allow for the two MI6 agents to keep up without overexerting themselves.

They walked in silence. Rose was chewing her lip in worry, continuously glancing back at Alex as if he was about to faint on them at any moment. Terry too seemed worried about the boy, though Alex ignored the two and kept his head down. With the adrenalin shot that he'd been given so long ago finally fading away, each step felt like it would send him tumbling to the ground.

As they neared the spot where Dean had parked, the saw an ambulance racing off, its sirens whirling at full blast.

"What took you so long?" Were the first words out of Dean's mouth when Terry, Alex and Rose finally arrived at their vehicle. There was another ambulance parked next to it. The minute the paramedics caught sight of Alex and Rose, they hustled them over to the ambulance and started examining the pair for injuries and smoke inhalation.

"Is Dessi going to be okay?" Terry asked, ignoring his field partner. Instead he caught sight of his unit leader sitting on the road, leaning against the car with a lost expression on his face. "Jake?" Terry said, going over to the brown haired man.

Jake drew in a small breath. "They don't know," he whispered, "She was hurt so badly..." Jake shook his head, trying to clear his mind.

"She'll be find," Terry said as soothingly as he could through the fear that gripped him when he thought about losing the girl, "She's been through so much worse, and if she can make it through all that, she can make it through this."

Jake smiled sadly at his friend, before nodding. "You're right," he said, "She's a strong girl."

"That's right. Now let's get going," Terry stood, dragging Jake up with him, "We'll go visit Dessi in hospital, and you'll see that she'll make it."

Dean came over to the two. "Agent Allende has been cleared," he said with a glance over his shoulder at the ambulance, "But Alex has suffered minor smoke inhalation and their taking him to St Dominic's."

"Right," Jake said, regaining his normal confidence, "Let's go."

* * *

They arrived at St Dominic's and, due to their status as government agents, were ushered through to the emergency waiting rooms. They'd been sitting there for about ten minutes when Alex joined them, having reassured the nurses (countless times) that he wouldn't overexert himself, and not kicking up a fuss when he was spoon fed the most disgusting medication ever made in the history of mankind (in his personal opinion anyway).

"Any news?" Alex asked as he sat down next to Rose. The three AIS agents were all lost in their own grim thoughts, and hadn't noticed the boy's arrival. Rose on the other hand, gave Alex a small smile.

"No," she sighed, "All we can hear is them rushing around in there," Rose said, jerking a thumb in the direction of the emergency ward, "But so far, no news. They said that they'd inform us as soon as they've stabilised Desiree, but for now all we can do is hope."

"That...sounds really grim," Alex admitted.

"Yeah, I know."

They sat in silence, listening to the hustle and bustle coming from the emergency ward. It seemed like days had passed when the doors to the ward finally opened and a doctor came out, wiping sweat from his forehead. Jake stood from his seat, giving the doctor a questioning look as the other four stood up too.

The doctor nodded. "She's stable."

There was a collective sigh of relief. Terry and Dean turned to Jake with smiles on their faces, ready to tell their unit leader 'we told you so' when a loud alarm came from the emergency ward. The doctor spun as someone came running out.

"She's crashing again!" The person yelled before disappearing in again. The doctor didn't waste any time before running after them, closing the ward doors behind him. They could still hear the muffled shouts of "Call a code!" and "Clear!", along with about three different machines beeping at the same time.

Jake dropped back into his seat with a barely concealed moan of anxiety. Terry and Dean sat either side of him, bracing their friend with their silent support. Rose remained standing with Alex, the two of them feeling like they were intruding upon a private moment. Rose turned to Alex.

"I heard from the receptionist that some of my collegues and your friends are still here," she said quietly, "Do you want to go see them? So they know you're alive?" Alex nodded, and the two of them left the Australians quietly, taking the elevator until they reached the correct floor.

"Umm...this way," Rose said after running her eye down a list of ward numbers, "I'm pretty sure they're...ah! Here we are!"

Rose pushed open the door to a private ward and let Alex enter before her. Alex only had time to see Ben in the bed with Tom beside him when someone threw their arms around him in an extremely tight hug, knocking him backwards. He wouldn've fallen had Rose not caught and steadied him at the last moment.

"Oh, Alex!" Jack cried, "I was so worried about you!"

"Umph...Jack? Can't breath," Alex wheezed. Immediately Jack let him go, only to pull him into yet another hug. Rose smiled at the two of them before walking over to join Tom and Ben, leaving Alex to fend for himself.

"How're you feeling?" She asked as she sat down.

Ben smiled at her. "It's still a little sore," he said, guesturing to his bound up hand, "But they think it'll heal. At least I'm a lot better off than Alving or Crawley."

"Well, that's a relief," Rose joked. Alex and Jack made their way over to them, the latter refusing to let go of Alex's arm. They both sat down next to Rose.

"Hey Ben," Alex said with a smile for the ex-SAS soldier turned MI6 agent.

"Alex,"Ben greeted with a smile, "Good to see you got out of there alright...Which reminds me..." Ben turned to Rose with a frown on his face, causing the twenty-two year old to recoil slightly. "Why the _hell_ did you sacrifice yourself like that?"

"Uh," Rose stammered, her mouth suddenly dry, "Well, you know...um...I had no choice?"

Ben actually growled. "How many times do I have to tell you to _not_ keep putting yourself in harms way? Why don't you ever listen to me?"

"Well...you see..."

"Hang on," Alex interrupted, turning to the slightly pale Rose, "Do you know him?"

Rose stopped, staring at Alex in surprise. She turned to Ben. "You didn't tell him?"

"How was I supposed to know that he knew you?"

Rose shook her head, before turning to Alex with a grin on her face. "About a year and a half after someone joins MI6, they're allowed to _finally_ go out on field missions. MI6 assigns them mentors who basically guide them for about six months before allowing them out on their own."

"Let me guess, you got Ben as your mentor," Alex said.

"Yep!" Rose answered with a smile. "I was so happy that I didn't get Crawley! And I mean, at that time Ben had only been working with MI6 for like a few weeks or something, but since he had previous training in the field, he was given full field status immediately. And I have to say that it was quite fun being with him."

"Yeah, and unlike Crawley I actually have a sense of humour," Ben joked.

"Really?" Rose asked with great sarcasm, "You were trying to be funny?"

"Oh, shut it Rose," Ben grinned.

"But yeah," Rose said, turning back to Alex, "I basically tailed Ben around, got sent in to do measly stuff until he was sure that I wouldn't accidentally kill anyone. After that, it was fun, sort of. Anyways, a couple of months later, and halfway through one of the missions that Ben and I were on, MI6 awarded me full field status and got packed off to a mission in America. But, boy, I'll never forget my last mission with Ben.

"After all, it's not everyday you see an Afghan kid blow up an entire boathouse that was the site of an illegal boxing ring and then escaping on some boat or other."

* * *

Jake, Terry and Dean crowded around the bed of their final unit member. The girl was asleep, which was probably for the best considering the number of tubes that were currently attatched to her.

It had taken almost half an hour before Desiree Swan was officially declared fully stable. Now, almost an hour later, there were still no signs that she was about to die on them. The machines worked away, emptying her lungs of the blood which had seeped in when her broken ribs had stabbed them. Her arm was now properly plastered in a cast, allowing the doubly broken forearm to heal properly.

"She looks so peaceful," Jake whispered, "I wish she could look like that when she was awake."

Terry smiled grimly. "That's a lost cause, mate. She's been through too much."

Jake sighed. _Don't I know that,_ he thought.

"Do you think Scorpia's threat is over?" Dean asked, deciding to steer the conversation away from that uncomfortable topic.

"Dunno," Terry said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I hope it is," Jake said, "I'd like nothing more than to be back home where it's not _snowing_."

"Awww," Terry smirked, "Poor Jakie is cold!"

"Shut it Phillips."

"Excuse me? Mr Wood?" A meek voice said from the doorway, "There's a lady here who wants to see you."

Jake turned to see Mrs Jones standing in the doorway while the lady who had announced her presence scuttled away. Shooting Terry and Dean a glance that told them to stay put, he got up and walked over the the second in command of the MI6.

"Mrs Jones," Jake said, extending a hand which Jones shook.

"Let's talk outside," Mrs Jones said and, without waiting for a response, turned and left. Jake raised an eyebrow at her retreating back before following her out into the deserted waiting area. She sat down, motioning for him to take a seat too.

"So?" Jake asked.

"I'd just like to say that I'm very grateful to you and your team for risking your lives to rescue our MI6 agents," Mrs Jones began, her eyes shining with sincerity, "And I'm also sorry about the way my superior treated you. He refuses to speak with you, but I hope that you accept my apology."

Jake grinned wryly. "Don't worry. I'm used to Blunt's behaviour by now," he said, "It's not the first time I"ve had to deal with that man. And honestly, I can't wait until I get out from under his nose."

"That's to be expected, I suppose," Mrs Jones smiled, "I just thought that you should be informed as to the fates of the escaped Scorpia agents. Every one of them were caught. There was a bit of a struggle though, and two of them didn't make it, but still...We also apprehended William and his personal guards in the afternoon when they made their way to a private airstrip that Scorpia never realised we knew about."

"So, it's over then?" Jake asked, "Once Desiree wakes up and gets the okay, we can go home?"

Mrs Jones nodded. "Yes, though I dare say that Miss Swan would want to remain for a little while longer." Seeing the questioning look on Jake's face, she decided to expand, "Alex's school is holding a dance in five days time. I was just speaking to Mr Rider, and he let it slip that he was interested in taking Miss Swan as his...partner."

Jake's eyes narrowed as another bout of overprotectiveness rushed through him. But before he could say anything else, rushed footsteps approached them from inside the emergency ward. A moment later, Terry poked his head out, an estatic expression plastered on his face.

"Jake! Desiree's awake!" He exclaimed.

Immediately Jake shot up from his chair, leaving behind a slightly bemused Mrs Jones as he followed Terry back to Desiree's bed. Dean was talking to her happily, telling her about everything she'd missed so far, though not in too great a detail.

Desiree noticed her field partner's entrance. Her crystal blue eyes fixed with his, and she broke into a wide smile.

* * *

_No cliffie this time!!! Lol, I didn't think you could stand another one._

_This story's almost over :( It's been so fun writing all this. Start thinking about whether or not you guys want a sequel and if you do/don't, __tell me!!!!!!_

_Anyways, please review and let me know what you think!_

_Love Chariots99_

_Ps, __OMG!!!!!! ONLY __5__ MORE REVIEWS UNTIL 100!!!!!!!!!!*hint*hint*!!!_


	17. Dance

_**Disclaimer**__: I __do not own __the Alex Rider series._

_**Claimer:**__ I __do own__ the AIS and all characters from the AIS (e.g. Desiree Swan), and any other characters you don't recognise from the Alex Rider series._

**Chapter 17**

Desiree looked at herself one last time in the mirror. Normally, she didn't so much give her reflection a second glance, but she really wanted to leave a lasting impression. Especially since this would be the last time she would be seeing Alex before she, Jake, Terry and Dean left England for good. And there really was no telling when the two would meet again, if ever.

The day after she'd woken up, Alex and Tom had to go back to school, since it was a Monday (apparently – she'd lost all sense of time after being locked in a cell and tortured for God knows how long). With the threat of Scorpia withdrawn, the school was no longer surrounded by SAS soldiers and MI6 agents. The teens were now able to freely walk through their school again without fear of being shot at or kidnapped. That, however, didn't stop the unwanted attention which Alex seemed to keep attracting. Indeed, he now seemed to have almost the entire female population stalking him, while the entire _male_ population were trying to befriend him.

When Tom and Alex had visited Desiree in hospital on Monday afternoon, Alex had spent half an hour ranting on and on about how his school consisted of nothing but "half-witted dunderheads without an inkling of the real world!" Desiree and Tom had exchanged exasperated glances, and had then proceeded to tune the teenage spy out until he calmed down. After that, it took the two the rest of their visit to explain to Alex how the fact that he'd been kidnapped made him even more eligible in the eyes of the female population and more 'cool' in the eyes of the male.

At which point the boy had promptly gone into another rant, causing Desiree and Tom to once again practice the fine art of tuning out someone who was shouting insults very close to their ears.

The next day, where Desiree had slowly regained the ability to get out of bed and walk around without killing herself, Tom told the girl (in between great amounts of laughter) that a third of the female population at Brooklands had already asked Alex to go with them to the Dance. Alex was glaring at Tom as he told the Australian girl this; it seemed that the two friends had made a pact not to tell Dessi about what she was missing at school.

Even as Desiree laughed with Tom at Alex's misfortune, she couldn't help the twinge of jealousy at the thought of the boy getting so much feminine attention. But what was even more unnerving for the girl was the sense of relief coursing through her veins when Tom told her about how Alex had rejected (rather roughly) each and every one of them.

She couldn't help but remember the way she'd felt when Alex had wrapped an arm around her, or when he'd carried her so close to his body. And there was that look in his eyes whenever he glanced at her, believing her to not be paying any attention..._Ah, crap, I've got a crush on a boy living in the complete opposite hemisphere as me_, she mentally cursed.

Wednesday brought with it the good news that she would be discharged the next day. Wednesday was the day in which Desiree learnt that almost all of the remaining female population had asked to attend the Dance with Alex, and had been rejected. Wednesday was the day Tom finally plucked up the courage to ask April Thompson (one of the few girls that hadn't asked Alex out) out to the Dance – oh, and she said yes. Wednesday also marked the day that Cindy Rills decided to stalk Alex around for the entire day (which she normally did anyway...), pestering him to go to the Dance with her. In the end, Tom had gotten fed up with having the girl's shrieking voice constantly ... shrieking ... beside his ear that he dumped his mashed potato on her head. Needless to say, she wasn't too pleased.

Desiree on the other hand, found the incident rather hilarious, and had promptly dissolved into laughter when Tom described (with startling accuracy) the expression on Cindy's face when she realised that he'd dumped mashed potato on her 'perfectly crafted hair'. Dessi couldn't help but notice that Alex joined in with her laughter, gazing at her with sparkling eyes...

Thursday was a very, _very_ long day to wait out. Jake, Terry and Dean couldn't understand why the girl was so impatient, but it had been four days since she was allowed outside, and this was the day when she was finally cleared to go back home – or at least, go back to Alex's home. Her field partner wasn't much help in calming her down, especially since every time she started talking about Alex, he started to either glare straight ahead of him, or drop whatever he was holding. After he sent her lunch clattering to the ground, the girl stayed quiet on the topic of MI6's teenage spy.

When Tom and Alex finally walked into her ward in the afternoon, with Jack tailing along behind them, Desiree couldn't help but be relieved that her hospital stay was finally over. Jake left with Terry and Dean – or rather, he was forcefully dragged out by the other two who wanted to prevent any arguments that may take place between Jake and Alex – and the three AIS agents left for the hotel which they had been set up in, courtesy of the MI6.

Today, Friday, had by far been the best day yet. Not wanting to miss any opportunity to spend time with Alex, Desiree had tagged along with them to school. That perhaps had not been a smart move, because for some reason the girl began attracting a lot of unwanted attention. Alex and Tom did their best to turn away the persistent male population, but it was inevitable that at least one boy would get through their net.

The two didn't have to worry. Almost as soon as Neal Roese opened his mouth, Desiree snapped. What happened after could only be described as epic. The girl had shouted at him so loudly, and with the use of so many words that sixteen year old girls shouldn't know, that for the rest of the day none of the male population could even think about her without wincing. Alex and Tom just looked at the girl in awe, their respect for her increasing in leaps and bounds when, after yelling at Neal for ten minutes she'd turned to the two, gave them both a sweet smile, and pranced off to her next class. That epic shouting session would go down in legend.

But the most memorable event that occurred that day happened during lunch. Since the Dance was that night, many girls were coming around for second shots, desperately trying to get Alex to go with them. The boy had been late for lunch, so while Dessi and Tom ate, all the girls in the cafeteria plotted. Tom had been grinning in anticipation of Alex's reaction to all the girls (such a nice friend). Desiree, on the other hand, had zoned out all the noise going on around her to prevent herself from developing a headache.

When Alex had finally made his entry, he had been literally bombarded with flocking girls. Tom had looked on eagerly, waiting for the explosion. April had made her way over to tell the boy off about how unsupportive he was of his friend, but Tom merely gestured towards Alex with a look of glee on his face, clearly telling the girl to see the expression on the teenage spy's face. Against her better judgement, the girl who was going to the Dance with Tom glanced over, and had immediately dissolved into laughter.

Somehow, Alex had managed to fight his way over to Desiree, Tom and April. The latter two gave the boy wide grins, before both of them spontaneously burst into laughter again. Desiree rolled her eyes at Alex, shaking her head in mock shame. Alex had given the girl a small, nervous smile, before dropping into the seat next to her, leaning over, and whispering into her ear:

"Do you want to go to the Dance with me tonight?"

Desiree had whipped her head around and stared at Alex in shock, completely ignoring the population of girls that had interpreted her expression and were glaring at her in jealousy. Once she saw that he wasn't joking around, bright blue eyes seemed to light up in happiness as the blonde girl gave the MI6 teenage spy a rather shy smile, which quickly morphed into a grin when it was returned.

This was the reason why she now stood in front of her mirror, checking over her appearance. After school that day, she'd been met with a surprise in the form of Anna Satins, the AIS cook and dressmaker. The twenty-two year old had brought with her a gown which she'd literally forced Desiree into as soon as the girl had stepped into the Rider household. Well, first, she'd been dragged bodily upstairs and locked into her room.

"You look beautiful," Anna said, stepping back and taking in the girl.

Dessi smiled shyly, unused to such compliments about her looks. "Thanks. And thank you for helping with everything."

"No problem! I've always wanted to come to England! And while you're at the Dance tonight, I'm going to join Jack and the rest of your unit in walking around and exploring!" Anna exclaimed, pulling Desiree into an excited hug, "It'll be a safe adventure!"

"You'll only be here for a few hours," Desiree pointed out.

"So? Better just a few hours than never," Anna said, her grin still in place.

"True."

They were interrupted by a soft knock on the door; a moment later Jack poked her head through. Catching sight of the dressed up girl, she broke into a wide grin. "Desiree you look beautiful!" She exclaimed, walking into the room and pulling the girl into a hug, ignoring the girl's stammered thanks. "Alex is waiting for you downstairs; you'd better go now before he completely freaks out."

Desiree nodded, smiling at the two women before moving towards the door. Just before she completely exited the room, she paused and turned back to Jack. "Oh, thank you for having me here. It's been a pleasure to meet you."

Jack's eyes widened. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah," Dessi sighed, "But don't tell Alex. I don't want him all depressed tonight."

"No, of course not, I understand," Jack said, sounding slightly teary. Then, before Desiree could leave, she rushed forwards and pulled the girl into another hug, this one a lot tighter than before. The girl's broken arm that was now in a cast was squished uncomfortably between them. "I should be the one thanking you, Dessi. Thank you for coming over and helping Alex with this whole threat thing. I...he...when you came, he was just...so much more relaxed, and happy, and I know I have you to thank and...well, thank you. You're welcome here anytime."

Jack pulled away and gave the girl a genuine smile, before pushing her out the door with a wink. Desiree collected herself for a few moments, blinking away some tears so that they wouldn't smudge her face (Anna had forced the girl to wear make-up tonight), before going down the stairs to meet Alex. She had refused point blank to wear heels, so there was no chance of stacking it in the blue ballet flats which had been Anna's compromise.

Alex turned at the sound of someone walking quietly down the stairs. The boy froze, and his eyes widened in shock when he saw Desiree. The girl stood at the end of the stairs, waiting slightly nervously for him to say something while trying not to scratch the itch that her cast was causing. Remembering his manners (or at least the ones that had been drilled into him for the last two hours or so by Jack), he walked across to the girl and offered her his arm, which she took with a grin.

"You look so pretty," Alex said, "And your hair looks very nice in curls."

"Thanks," Dessi smiled, fingering her now curly hair, "You look very dashing yourself."

Alex rolled his eyes. "If any girl had said that, I would've strangled them."

"Well then, good thing I'm not 'any girl', otherwise you wouldn't have a date tonight," Desiree teased, allowing Alex to help her into the MI6 provided car. The way to the Dance was filled with playful banter from the two spies.

"Just before we go in," Alex whispered, "Let me say again that you look beautiful tonight."

"Err...thanks. But you've already told me that."

"Yes, but I'm repeating it so you'll remember once you're bombarded with boys when we go in," Alex replied, leading the girl towards the entrance. They could already hear music floating through the doors. "Well, we're a timely late."

Dessi shook her head, allowing Alex to open the door for her. "Wow, this place in gorgeous. And I never thought I'd ever hear myself using that word."

Alex snorted, holding out his arm again. "Let's go find Tom."

The pair made their way through the dance floor, where boys and girls alike threw them jealous glances. The two ignored them, trying to seek out Tom Harris and his partner.

"Oh, there they are!" Dessi said, pointing at the pair who had taken up a table and were seemingly waiting for them

"Alex!" Tom exclaimed when they pushed their way across, "And, wow! Dessi, you look awesome!"

April, Tom's partner, face-palmed herself before turning to Desiree with a grin, "I would've said that you look pretty more than "awesome", but that's boys for you."

Desiree snorted, before smiling at April. "You look very pretty too," she said, and so she did. April wore a dreamy purple gown that had a floaty skirt and tight strapless bodice.

The four of them were interrupted by Cindy Rills, doing her best to glide across while wearing heels. She took a second to glare at Desiree and April (whom she seemed to see as a threat to her getting Alex even though she'd never been interested), before turning to Alex with a huge smile.

"Alex, how have you been?" She asked, her leg snaking out slightly through the off-centre split in her red gown. The rather steep drop in the neckline of her gown was accentuated with silver beads sown on in an intricate pattern.

"Erm, my answer hasn't changed from four hours ago, you know," Alex replied, completely oblivious to the flirtatious tone which Cindy had been using, nor to the way she kept twisting her body around, showing off her best angles. Behind Alex's back, Tom faked puke over the table, while the two girls shared a grin about the teenage spy's complete ignorance when it came to girls.

"Oh well," Cindy said when she realised she wasn't getting anywhere. The girl then turned to Desiree, "That's a very _unique_ dress. Where did you get it; the fifties?" Cindy was referring to the fact that Desiree's dress covered pretty much all of her back and chest, something that all the other gowns in the room seemed to bare, and also had elbow-length butterfly sleeves instead of the current bare arms. Anna had realised that Desiree wouldn't want to walk around parading the scars she'd obtained from her most recent encounter with Scorpia, and so had made the dress accordingly.

"No, actually it was from the sixties," Dessi replied in a sweet tone, causing both Alex and April to snort, and Tom to choke on his drink. Realising that the Aussie girl had won, Cindy threw them her best glare (while somehow simultaneously giving Alex a sickly sweet smile), before she spun and left.

Alex rolled his eyes, before turning to Desiree. "Do you want to dance?"

"Uh...Well, I can't really dance all that well," Dessi said with an embarrassed grin, "And I'm on a whole load of pain medication, so I'll probably be really uncoordinated...But if you want to, I'll give it a go."

Alex grinned, holding out his hand and leading Dessi onto the dance floor. He soon found out that the girl wasn't joking when she was talking about the pain medication affecting her coordination. Add to that the fact that her arm was still in a cast, meaning she couldn't bend it well enough to hold onto the boy. As a result, Alex had to hold her a lot closer and tighter to him. Neither of the pair seemed to mind this compromise, however.

"Dessi, you're leaving soon aren't you?" Alex asked.

The girl in his arms froze for a moment. "How-?"

"Just a feeling."

Desiree sighed. "Yeah, we're leaving tonight, right after this." She wrapped her arms around Alex's neck, resting her head on his shoulder. "I don't really want to go."

Alex pulled the girl even closer to him. "I don't want you to go either."

They stayed like that for a while, both of them swaying gently to the music, enjoying each other's company and warmth. Both oblivious to the jealous glances that were being shot their way every few seconds. For the two spies, this was a night they wished would never end.

"Alex?" Dessi whispered, breaking the silence, "Have you thought about what you'll do once you graduate?"

The boy smiled slightly. "Not really. MI6 probably wouldn't give me a choice in the matter. Knowing Blunt, he'll probably have the day I graduate circled in his diary. I bet I'll be sent on a mission within a week of graduating."

"Not a very promising future then," Dessi sighed.

"Ah well, maybe my luck will hold out. Then again, maybe it's better if it doesn't."

They lapsed into silence again.

"So what about you?" Alex asked, tightening his arms around Dessi's waist.

"What do you mean?"

"What does your future hold?"

Desiree snorted softly into Alex's chest. "If I live until Jake's age, I'll consider myself lucky."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah."

"So how come Dean and Terry are still alive?"

"They have things to live for."

Alex opened his mouth to say something, anything to make the girl feel better. Instead, what came out was a soft, humourless chuckle.

"What?" Dessi asked, lifting her head off Alex's chest so she could look at him with her crystal blue eyes.

"Nothing. It's just that...out of all the people in this whole entire room who will die relatively normal deaths, you and I will be the only ones who die most likely trying to stop some maniacal psychopath. I don't know why I laughed though; maybe I'm just feeling particularly sadistic at the moment. Can we talk about something else? All this thought about my imminent murder is starting to depress me."

Dessi smiled. "Sure. What would you like to talk about?"

"Will I ever see you again?" _Wow, that sounded so corny_, Alex thought.

The girl sighed. "Probably not," she conceded, "But maybe fate has something else in store for us."

"I hope so."

"Alex?" Dessi looked up at him, "It's not too late, you know."

"Not too late for what?"

"Pulling out. Telling MI6 to stuff it. Think about it carefully before you accept, okay? No matter how small, you still have somewhat of a say in your life."

Alex sighed. "I know. I just...people keep telling me how good my dad was. How good Ian was. How good I am. What if, what if I was meant to do this?"

Desiree smiled slightly. "No-one can tell you what you were or weren't meant to do. But, in the words of Albus Dumbledore," Alex snorted, "It is not our abilities that determine who we are. It is our choices."

The boy looked slightly surprised for a moment. "You know, I've never really associated Harry Potter with my life. But...that somehow actually made good advice." Alex looked down, grinning at the girl. Dessi smiled back, before leaning into the boy again, tilting her head back as she did so.

Slowly, carefully, and in full view of Tom Harris who was never going to let them live it down, Desiree Swan pressed her lips against those of Alex Rider's.

* * *

_The End!_

_Wow! Well, not sure about you guys, but that ending slightly sucked for me..._

_Anyways, I'd just like to thank all you loyal reviewers for...well reviewing. Also all those who added me or my story to favourites, and to those who alerted me or my story. So, thank you._

_As usual, please review!_

_Also, do let me know if you are all willing to wait for a sequel! And give me some ideas too!_

_Thanks again!  
Love Chariots99_


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